Godfrey
Masculine
Nobody is sure whether Godfrey begins with god or with good. Germanic guda, a god, and goda, good, fell together in the medieval languages, and the names built on either are now impossible to separate — which leaves the first ruler of crusader Jerusalem with an ambiguous name.
How old is the name Godfrey?
Godfrey was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Godfrey alive today was born around 1946, making them about 79 years old. About 1,500 people named Godfrey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Godfrey most popular?
Godfrey peaked in 1888, reaching #554 nationally. Today it ranks #7679, 7,125 places below that high. See the whole 1888 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Godafrid to Godfrey
The story of Godfrey
Godfrey of Bouillon led the First Crusade's capture of Jerusalem in 1099 and became the city's first Latin ruler, refusing the title of king and taking Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre instead. His name spread through Norman and Continental Europe and reached England with the Conquest, becoming a common medieval English name. Gottfried is the German form, borne by Gottfried von Strassburg, who wrote the Tristan romance around 1210, and by Leibniz. Godfrey declined in English after the Reformation and returned in the nineteenth century; the American figures peak in 1888.
Meaningscholars disagree
Germanic "god's peace" or "good peace"
From a Germanic compound of guda, god, or goda, good, with frid, peace or protection. The two first elements had merged in pronunciation by the medieval period and cannot be distinguished in the surviving forms; the same ambiguity affects Godwin, Godard and the English word goodbye, a contraction of God be with you. Godfrey is the English form of Continental Godefroy and Gottfried.
How the name formed
- Godafrid
- Godefroy
- Godfrey
Related forms: Gottfried · Godefroy · Goffredo · Godfried
Pronouncing Godfrey
GOD-free
Two syllables, stress on the first. German Gottfried is GOT-freet with a hardened final consonant; French Godefroy is god-FRWAH with the stress at the end.
Nicknames for Godfrey
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 191871 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #554reached in 1888
- Change vs 2022
- 0.0%10 in 2025, from 10
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Godfrey in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gottfried in German — same name
- Godefroy in French — same name
- Goffredo in Italian — same name
- Godfried in Dutch — same name
Godfreys among us
people named Godfrey are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 170,808 born in 2025 was named Godfrey
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Godfrey sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Godfrey beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Godfrey in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is a genuine medieval name with a famous crusader bearer.
- Fred and Geoff work as short forms.
- It is read correctly on sight by English speakers.
- The first element is genuinely ambiguous between god and good.
- It reads as strongly old-fashioned in current American use.
- The 1880s peak dates a bearer clearly.
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Godfrey
Masculine · #7679 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Godfreys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Godfrey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Godfrey in 2025?
- Godfrey ranks #7679 among US boy names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Godfrey?
- About 1 in every 170,808 US boys born in 2025 was named Godfrey — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Godfrey with classmates?
- Godfrey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Godfrey
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Early#7679 · Obie#7679 · Huston#7679 · Knute#7679 · Rance#7679 · Blain#7679 · Doyle#7679 · Millard#7679
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Godfrey? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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