Stafford
Masculine · “ford by a landing place”
Stafford is an English town and county name, and the ford in it is real — a crossing of the river Sow, with a landing place beside it.
How old is the name Stafford?
Stafford first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Stafford alive today was born around 1957, making them about 68 years old. About 1,700 people named Stafford are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Stafford most popular?
Stafford peaked in 1884, reaching #764 nationally. Today it ranks #3848, 3,084 places below that high. See the whole 1884 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From staeth ford to Stafford
The story of Stafford
Stafford was fortified by Aethelflaed of Mercia in 913 as one of the burhs built against the Danes, and it gave its name to a county and to a powerful medieval family, the Staffords, who became dukes of Buckingham and were repeatedly executed for it. The surname reached America with English settlement, and its use as a given name appears in real numbers in the nineteenth century.
Meaning
ford by a landing place
From Old English staeth, a landing place or bank, and ford; the town grew where a road crossed the Sow, and the first element records the place boats could be drawn up.
How the name formed
- staeth ford
- Stafford
Related forms: Stafford · Stanford
Pronouncing Stafford
STAF-erd
Two syllables, first stressed. There is no variation.
Nicknames for Stafford
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
- 1882
- Most boys named
- 195953 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #764reached in 1884
- Change vs 2023
- +133.3%28 in 2025, 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.
Stafford in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Stafford in English — same name
- Stanford in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: North Carolina.
Staffords among us
people named Stafford are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 61,003 born in 2025 was named Stafford
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
Stafford 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
Where Stafford is headed
Stafford should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Stafford beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Stafford in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled place-name meaning with a documented Anglo-Saxon foundation.
- Ford is a complete short form in current use.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- It reads as a surname to people meeting it in front of another one.
- Eight letters is a fair amount for early handwriting.
- A breed of terrier is named after the county, which some will mention.
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What they receive
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Stafford
Masculine · #3848 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Staffords are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Stafford are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Stafford in 2025?
- Stafford ranks #3848 among US boy names in 2025, with 28 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Stafford?
- About 1 in every 61,003 US boys born in 2025 was named Stafford — 28 in all.
- Will my child share the name Stafford with classmates?
- Stafford will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Stafford
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Armand#3848 · Tracy#3848 · Dewey#3848 · Donny#3848 · Trevion#3848 · Coltyn#3848 · Naftuli#3848 · Isreal#3848
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Stafford? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Stafford and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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