Riffle is an American surname with German roots. Most Riffles in the United States descend from German-speaking families named Riffel, Rüffel or Ruffel, who came from the Palatinate, Baden, Württemberg and nearby areas of the Rhine valley. English-speaking clerks wrote down what they heard, and over a generation or two the name settled into the spelling “Riffle.”
The meaning of the German name is not fully certain. One common explanation connects it to the Middle High German verb riffeln, “to comb flax,” which would make it an occupational name for a person who prepared flax for spinning into linen. Another explanation connects it to rüffeln, “to scold,” which would make it a nickname for a quarrelsome or outspoken person. Both meanings may be true for different families.
Many German families came to Pennsylvania through the port of Philadelphia in the 1700s, and the Riffels were among them. Their descendants moved west and south into Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and, in large numbers, into what became West Virginia. Records from that period show the name with many spellings, such as Riffel, Riffell, Rifle and Riffle, sometimes for members of the same family. The name is still most common in the Appalachian and Midwestern states.
By accident, the surname is also an English word. A “riffle” is a short stretch of shallow, rough water in a stream, and the word also describes how you shuffle a deck of cards or flip quickly through the pages of a book. As far as we know, none of these meanings have a connection to the family name. But they do give Riffles a good topic for conversation.
