Origin: English
Spelling Variations Include: Stiffe, Stiff, Styff, Styffe, Stife and others
First found in Gloucester England where they were anciently seated,
and the name was originnaly Styffe, and was sometimes used as
an abbreviation of Stephen.

Some of the frist settelers of this name or some of its variants were:
Richard Stife settled in New England in 1768.
Henry and Sarah Stiff settled in Barbados in 1660.
John Stiff settled in Philadelphia in 1762.

My first relative in the US was Thomas Stiffe
who settled in Middlesex County VA in 1677.