Jeffrey
Feminine · “peace”
Jeffrey is given to boys far more often — 979,601 boys against 3,498 girls since 1880. See Jeffrey as a boy name
Jeffrey is the American spelling and Geoffrey the British one, and the split is a matter of habit rather than of history: both have been in use in both countries for centuries, and each side simply settled on a different default and now finds the other slightly foreign.
How old is the name Jeffrey?
Jeffrey first appears in US birth records in 1941 — 84 years ago. The typical Jeffrey alive today was born around 1972, making them about 53 years old. About 3,200 people named Jeffrey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jeffrey most popular?
Jeffrey peaked in 1970, reaching #916 nationally. See the whole 1970 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Gaufrid to Jeffrey
The story of Jeffrey
The name has one bearer nobody forgets. Jeffrey Hudson was born in Rutland in the seventeenth century and stopped growing at under two feet; the Duke of Buckingham's household acquired him, and at a banquet for the king and queen he was served to them concealed inside a pie, from which he emerged. Queen Henrietta Maria kept him. He then had a career nobody would have predicted: captain of horse in the Civil War, captured by pirates and enslaved in North Africa for years, and later imprisoned in London on suspicion of plotting. He grew a further foot and a half in middle age, which physicians still find interesting. He is the reason a good many English readers know the name at all.
Meaningscholars disagree
peace
The second half is certainly the Germanic word for peace. The first half is not: several different Frankish names collapsed into one form in medieval French, and no one can say which of them any particular bearer descends from.
How the name formed
- Gaufrid
- Geoffrey
- Jeffrey
Related forms: Geoffroy · Goffredo · Gottfried · Godofredo
Pronouncing Jeffrey
JEF-ree
Two syllables with the weight at the front. Jeffrey and Geoffrey are said identically, which is why the two spellings have never merged.
Nicknames for Jeffrey
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
- 1941
- Most girls named
- 1970141 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #916reached in 1970
- Change vs 2004
- −58.3%5 in 2012, from 12
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.
Jeffrey in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Geoffroy in French — same name
- Goffredo in Italian — same name
- Gottfried in German — related form
- Godofredo in Spanish — related form
Jeffreys among us
people named Jeffrey 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
Jeffrey 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
- Everyone can spell it and say it on first hearing across the English-speaking world.
- Jeff is one of the most established short forms in the language.
- It has a documented English history reaching back to the Norman Conquest.
- It has cousins in French, Italian, German and Spanish, so the name travels.
- Geoffrey, Jeffery and Jefferey are all live spellings, and correcting them is a lifelong task.
- It is strongly associated with the middle of the twentieth century in America.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of girls, though it reads overwhelmingly as a boy's name.
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What they receive
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Jeffrey
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Jeffreys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,200 people named Jeffrey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jeffrey in 2025?
- Jeffrey is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Jeffrey with classmates?
- Jeffrey 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 Jeffrey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jeffrey and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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