# 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.
Notable people who share this surname include:
* Adam Hess (born 1981), American basketball player
* Adam Hess (comedian), British comedian
* Alexander Hess (1898–1981), Czechoslovak war pilot part of No. 310 Squadron RAF
* 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
* Charles R. Hess (1858–1928), American politician from Ohio
* Damian Hess aka MC Frontalot, nerdcore rapper
* Dean Hess (1917–2015), American Air Force Colonel
* Derek Hess, (born 1964), American artist
* Elizabeth Hess (born 1953), Canadian actress
* Elmar Hess (born 1966), German artist
* Eric Hess, American wrestler
* Erika Hess (born 1962), Swiss alpine skier
* Ernst Hess (1893–1917), German World War I flying ace
* Ernst Hess (composer) (1912-1968), Swiss conductor, composer and musicologist
* Ernst Moritz Hess (1890-1983), German soldier, judge, railway administrator, and holocaust survivor
* Fred Hess (1944–2018), American jazz musician
* Fred Hess (Wisconsin) (1858–1925), American politician
* Fred J. Hess (1848–1928), American politician
* Germain Henri Hess (1802–1850), Russian-Swiss chemist
* Greg Hess (born 1962), 16th president of Wabash College
* Hans-Georg Hess (1923–2008), German U-boat captain
* Harry Hammond Hess (1906–1969), American geologist
* 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
* Hiester Hess (died 1922), American politician from Maryland
* Hermann Hesse (1877–1962), German-born Swiss poet, novelist, and painter
* Hieronymus Hess, 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
* Jean-Chrisostome Hess (1816–1900), French composer, pianist, and organist
* Jessica Hess (born 1981), American realist painter
* Johann Hess (Hesse), (1490–1547), German theologian
* John Jacob Hess (1584–1639), Swiss-German Anabaptist minister and martyr
* John L. Hess (1917–2005), American journalist
* Karl Hess (1923–1994), American speechwriter and author
* Karl Hess (painter) (1801–1874), German painter
* Leon Hess Founder of Hess Corporation and the New York Jets franchise
* Lyle Hess, (1912-2002) American sailboat designer
* Markus Hess, German hacker
* Martin Hess (politician) (born 1971), German politician
* Michael A. Hess (1952–1995), American lawyer
* Moses Hess (1812–1875), Jewish philosopher and proto-Zionist
* Myra Hess (1890–1965), British pianist
* Nicole Hess (born 1973), German politician
* Nigel Hess, British composer
* Ortwin Hess, British optician and physicist
* Orvan Hess (1906–2002), doctor who invented the fetal heart monitor
* Per Hess (born 1946), Norwegian visual artist
* Peter von Hess, German painter
* Robert Hess (chess player), American chess grandmaster
* Robert Hess (college president) (1938–1994), American President of Brooklyn College
* Rudolf Hess (1894–1987), Deputy Führer of Nazi Germany
* Rudolf Hess (artist) (1903–1986), Californian painter and art critic
* Sara Whalen Hess Sara Whalen (born 1976), American Olympic soccer player
* Ursula Hess (born 1946), Swiss archer
* Ursula Hess (psychologist) (born 1960), German psychologist
* Victor Francis Hess (1883–1964), Austrian-American physicist who discovered cosmic rays
* W. Dale Hess (1930–2016), American politician
* Walter Rudolf Hess (1881–1973), Swiss physiologist Nobel Prize winner
* Willy Hess (composer) (1906–1997), Swiss musicologist, composer, Beethoven scholar
* Willy Hess (violinist) (1859–1939), German famous violin virtuoso
* Wolf Rüdiger Hess (Heß) (1937–2001), German architect son of Rudolf Hess