Hess ( surname ) - wikipedia Hess ( surname ) Hess or Heß, a German and Ashkenazic surname, meaning somebody originally from the region of Hesse. Two alternative origins have been reported. Usage in the south of Germany may arise from a contraction of the personal name Matthäus, whereas appearance in Germany or The Netherlands may arise from a modification of the personal name Hesso. Notable people who share this surname include : András Hess, Hungarian printer Beat W. Hess ( born 1949 ), Swiss businessman Bernhard Hess ( born 1966 ), Swiss politician Bernhard von Hess ( 1792 -- 1869 ), Bavarian Lieutenant General and War Minister Carl von Hess ( 1863 -- 1923 ), German ophthalmologist Catherina Hess, ( born 1985 ), German actress Damian Hess aka MC Frontalot, nerdcore rapper Dean Hess ( 1917 - 2015 ), American Air Force Colonel Elizabeth Hess ( born 1953 ), Canadian actress Elmar Hess ( born 1966 ), German artist Eric Hess, American wrestler Erika Hess ( born 1962 ), Swiss alpine skier Fred Hess ( born 1944 ), American jazz musician Fred Hess ( Wisconsin ) ( 1858 - 1925 ), American politician Germain Henri Hess ( 1802 -- 1850 ), Russian - Swiss chemist Gregory Hess ( born 1962 ), 16th President of Wabash College Hans - Georg Hess ( 1923 - 2008 ), German U-boat captain John Jacob Hess ( 1584 - 1639 ), Swiss - German Anabaptist minister and martyr Harry Hammond Hess ( 1906 -- 1969 ), American geologist best known for his theories on sea floor spreading Harry Hess, American college sports coach Harvey Hess ( 1939 - 2012 ), American lyric poet Heinrich von Heß ( 1788 -- 1870 ), Austrian fieldmarshall Heinrich Maria von Hess, German painter Hieronymus Hess ( de ), Swiss drawer, painter, caricaturist ( 1799 - 1850 ) Ilse Hess, German writer ( 1900 - 1995 ) Jake Hess, American southern gospel vocalist Jared Hess ( born 1979 ), American writer and director of Napoleon Dynamite Johann Hess ( Hesse ), ( 1490 -- 1547 ), German theologian Karl Hess ( 1923 -- 1994 ), American speechwriter and author Karl Hess ( painter ) ( 1801 - 1874 ), German painter Leon Hess Founder, Chairman of the Board & CEO of Hess Corporation and the New York Jets NFL Football franchise until his death Markus Hess, German hacker Michael A. Hess ( 1952 - 1995 ), American lawyer Moses Hess ( 1812 -- 1875 ), Jewish philosopher and proto - Zionist Myra Hess ( 1890 -- 1965 ), British pianist Nigel Hess, British composer Ortwin Hess, British optician and physicist Orvan Hess ( 1906 -- 2002 ), doctor who invented the fetal heart monitor Peter von Hess, German painter Rudolf Hess ( 1894 -- 1987 ), Deputy Führer of Nazi Germany Victor Francis Hess ( 1883 -- 1964 ), Austrian - American physicist who discovered cosmic rays Walter Rudolf Hess ( 1881 -- 1973 ), Swiss physiologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1949 Willy Hess ( violinist ) ( 1859 -- 1939 ), German famous violin virtuoso Willy Hess ( composer ) ( 1906 -- 1997 ), Swiss musicologist, composer, and famous Beethoven scholar Wolf Rüdiger Hess ( Heß ) ( 1937 -- 2001 ), German architect, right extremist and son of Rudolf Hess See also Rudolf Hoess ( also Höss or Höß ), commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II Helius Eobanus Hessus ( 1488 -- 1540 ), German Latin poet The Hess Homestead Hesse ( surname ) Notes Jump up ^ Rottenberg, Dan ( 1986 ). Finding Our Fathers ( reprint ed. ). Baltimore, Maryland : Genealogical Publishing Company. p. 51. ISBN 9780806311517. OCLC 13880202 -- via Google Books. Jump up ^ Hanks, Patrick, ed. ( 2003 ). Dictionary of American Family Names. New York : Oxford University Press. p. 172. ISBN 9780195081374. OCLC 51655476 -- via Google Books. This page lists people with the surname Hess. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person 's given name ( s ) to the link. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hess_(surname)&oldid=819835678 '' Categories : Surnames German - language surnames Jewish surnames Hidden categories : Interlanguage link template link number All set index articles Talk About Wikipedia Bân - lâm - gú Deutsch Русский 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 11 January 2018, at 14 : 56. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: where does the last name hess come from
Answer: somebody originally from the region of Hesse