Kolff (also: Van Santen Kolff, Kolff van Oosterwijk and Van Breda Kolff) is a Dutch family originating from the provinces of Holland, Gelderland, and Noord Brabant in the Netherlands.
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Founding father was Henric Colve, reported from May 1367, a farmer and cattle owner, who owned land at Helvoirt, Lith and Vught, and was a tenant at Oisterwijk. Recent genealogical research has shown that the family name may be derived from a family owned inn at Gorinchem where, around 1500, the game named Kolf was played. Most of the present Kolffs descend from Wouter Kolff, 'burger' (citizenship) of the city of Nijmegen and his children who moved westwards from Nijmegen along the great rivers of the Netherlands gradually, over several generations, towards Middelharnis, Maassluis, and who established themselves in the 19th and 20th centuries mainly at Rotterdam and The Hague. Another important branch settled in the Betuwe.
Most of the current 430 members (2010) of the Kolff family live in the Netherlands, while about one third live in other countries, most of them in Argentina, the United States of America and New Zealand. The genealogy of the Kolff family is included in the Nederland's Patriciaat from its earliest issues and can be seen up to date at the website of the Kolff Family Association. The family archives are kept at the Rotterdam Municipal Archives.
Kolff en Van Santen Kolff: the earliest known family member to use the coat of arms was Rev. Wolter Kolff (generation IX), according to the coat of arms of alliance between his wife Petronella van Duyren and himself, dated 1671 (in the family archives). Within the shield without colours he used the three hammers (kolven, colven, or Kolffen), bats down, outer two inclining inwards, the middle one inclining to the right. As tarpaulin he used the swan. The coats of arms of Van Breda Kolff and Kolff van Oosterwijk are not shown here.
(order following the family genealogy branch)