Taffy
Feminine
Taffy is two completely different words wearing one spelling: a nickname for a Welshman, from the Welsh form of David, and a boiled sugar candy. Neither has anything to do with the other.
How old is the name Taffy?
Taffy first appears in US birth records in 1943 — 82 years ago. The typical Taffy alive today was born around 1964, making them about 61 years old. About 800 people named Taffy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Taffy most popular?
Taffy peaked in 1962, reaching #1651 nationally. See the whole 1962 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Taffy
The Welsh side is the older and less comfortable. English had a rhyme about Taffy the Welshman that was taught to children for generations and is, read plainly, an accusation of theft against a whole nation; the nickname went with it, and in some periods the two were inseparable. What is being mangled in the process is a perfectly ordinary Welsh name: Dafydd, the David of the Welsh patron saint, said with a th sound at the end that English speakers could not reproduce and so replaced with an f. The candy is an entirely separate word with no agreed origin, first recorded in America and possibly related to an older British word for a similar sweet.
Meaningnot established
Not established
As a nickname it comes from Dafydd, the Welsh David, heard by English speakers as Taffy — and it was used, often rudely, for Welshmen in general. As a sweet it is an American word of unsettled origin. A child carrying the name may be named from either, and the record does not say.
Pronouncing Taffy
TAF-ee
Two syllables, stress at the front. Identical to the sweet.
Nicknames for Taffy
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
- 1943
- Most girls named
- 196247 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1651reached in 1962
- Change vs 1994
- +20.0%6 in 1996, from 5
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.
Taffy in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dafydd in Welsh — related form
Taffys among us
people named Taffy 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
Taffy 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
- It is short, cheerful and impossible to mispronounce.
- The Welsh connection is real and worth knowing.
- It is genuinely rare now.
- The candy is the first association for nearly every American.
- In Britain the word is a nickname for a Welsh person and is not always friendly.
- There is no settled meaning, because there are two separate words behind it.
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Taffy
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Taffys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Taffy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Taffy in 2025?
- Taffy is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Taffy with classmates?
- Taffy will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More T names
The most-given names starting with T, all years combined.
Teresa#908 · Theresa#1548 · Tiffany#878 · Tammy#3645 · Taylor#403 · Tina#2778 · Tracy#2153 · Thelma#4661
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Taffy? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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