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
 * 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