Jeffery
Feminine · “Peace”
Jeffery is given to boys far more often — 230,549 boys against 1,269 girls since 1880. See Jeffery as a boy name
Nobody can say for certain what Geoffrey means, because it is not one name. At least two and probably three separate Germanic compounds fell together in medieval French, and scholars have been trying to pull them apart for a hundred and fifty years without success.
How old is the name Jeffery?
Jeffery first appears in US birth records in 1927 — 98 years ago. The typical Jeffery alive today was born around 1967, making them about 58 years old. About 1,100 people named Jeffery are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jeffery most popular?
Jeffery peaked in 1963, reaching #1565 nationally. See the whole 1963 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Gaufrid to Jeffery
The story of Jeffery
One Geoffrey gave a dynasty its name by accident. Geoffrey, count of Anjou, married the daughter of the English king and is said to have worn a sprig of the yellow broom that grows on poor soil, planta genista in Latin, in his hat. The nickname attached to him, then to his descendants, and several centuries later antiquarians applied it retrospectively to the whole line of English kings who came from him, none of whom used it of themselves. So the name of one of the great dynasties of European history is a joke about a wild shrub and a hat, and it comes attached to a man called Geoffrey who never ruled England at all.
Meaningscholars disagree
Peace, plus something unsettled
The second element is agreed: it is the word for peace that also stands in Frederick and Godfrey. The first is not. Candidates include a word for territory, a word for a traveler, a word for a pledge and the word for God, and each is supported by different medieval spellings of what may or may not be the same name. The honest position is that the first half is genuinely unresolved.
How the name formed
- Gaufrid
- Geoffrey
- Jeffrey
- Jeffery
Related forms: Geoffroy · Goffredo · Godofredo · Gottfried
Pronouncing Jeffery
JEF-ree
Two syllables in speech and three on the page in this spelling, since the e between the f and the r is not usually said. Jeffrey, Jeffery and Geoffrey are all pronounced identically by most Americans.
Nicknames for Jeffery
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
- 1927
- Most girls named
- 196352 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1565reached in 1963
- Change vs 1990
- −61.5%5 in 1995, from 13
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.
Jeffery in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Geoffroy in French — same name
- Goffredo in Italian — same name
- Godofredo in Spanish — related form
- Gottfried in German — related form
Jefferys among us
people named Jeffery are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Jeffery sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The spoken name is completely established and never needs to be repeated aloud.
- Jeff is short, plain and universally understood, and works from childhood to old age.
- The name is recognizable in French, Italian, Spanish and German with only small changes.
- Three spellings are in wide use and this one is the middle option, so it will be got wrong both ways.
- The extra e is silent, which makes the spelling hard to defend in speech.
- The record carries this spelling for girls in small numbers as well, so it is not an absolute signal.
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What they receive
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Jeffery
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Jefferys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Jeffery are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jeffery in 2025?
- Jeffery is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Jeffery with classmates?
- Jeffery will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More J names
The most-given names starting with J, all years combined.
Jennifer#586 · Jessica#665 · Janet#2778 · Julie#872 · Joyce#1071 · Joan#1085 · Julia#131 · Jean#2117
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jeffery? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jeffery and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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