Popularity of the name Jeffrey, 1885–2025

Jeffrey was at its most popular in 1966, when 30,200 boys were given the name: about 1 in 59 boys born in the U.S. that year, ranking #9. In 2025, 544 boys were named Jeffrey, ranking #552. In all, Social Security counts 979,601 boys named Jeffrey since 1885. Social Security’s records also list 3,498 girls named Jeffrey.

Peak year

1966

Rank in 1966

#9

Babies in 1966

30,200

Rank in 2025

#552

Total since 1885

979,601

Where it stands now

In the past decade the name slipped from #290 in 2015 to #552 in 2025: 1,261 boys got it in 2015, and 544 in 2025.

Decade by decade

Its best decade was the 1960s, when 302,029 boys were named Jeffrey, #10 for the decade. It ranked #1,609 in the 1880s and #462 in the 2020s so far.

Every 20 years in the records: 22 in 1920 (#1,642), 799 in 1940 (#183), 28,841 in 1960 (#14), 16,379 in 1980 (#27), 3,563 in 2000 (#104) and 794 in 2020 (#386).

Highs and lows

The most boys given the name in a single year was 33,537, in 1962. That is not its peak year: Social Security’s records hold more boys for 1962 than for 1966, so the name’s share of births was smaller. Its best rank, #9, came in its peak year.

Every year

The table lists every year from 1885 to 2025 in which Social Security recorded at least 5 boys named Jeffrey, with the name’s rank that year.

How these numbers are counted

Social Security publishes, for every year since 1880, how many babies of each sex were given each name, counting any name given to at least 5. A name’s rank is its place that year among names for the same sex, by number of babies. Names with the same count share a rank here, while Social Security’s own lists break ties alphabetically, so a rank can differ from theirs by a place or two. A name’s share is the number of babies given it divided by all babies of that sex in the data that year, and its peak is the year that share was highest. Shares rather than counts set the peak, because far more babies were born in some years than others: counting babies alone would pull nearly every name’s peak toward the 1946–1964 baby boom.

Source: the U.S. Social Security Administration’s national baby name data, from Social Security card applications for babies born in the U.S. A name is left out of a year when fewer than 5 babies of one sex got it, and counts before about 1937 are incomplete, because many people born then never applied for a card. See how Baby Boom builds its data. Figures may contain errors.