Jeff

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Geoff in ZA South Africa, ES Spain, IE Ireland.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 7 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Jeff is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name194K records spelled Jeff14 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Brazil, Philippines, Argentina

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian

  Also written Jëff, Jêff, Jéff, Jèff, Jệff

• French given name62K records spelled Jeff4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Canada, United Kingdom

  Also written Jeff', Jèff, Jéff

• Chinese given name21K records spelled Jeff3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Taiwan, China, United Kingdom

  Languages: Chinese, Burmese

  Also written Jęff

• Thai given name5.0K records spelled Jeff2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Thailand, Philippines, Canada

  Also written Jëff

• Turkish given name3.3K records spelled Jeff5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Philippines

  Languages: Turkish, Azerbaijani, Kazakh

  Also written Җефф

73 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Jeff is also recorded in 4 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• Short form of Jeffrey, now also used as an independent given name, especially in North America.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In French, Short form of Jeffrey/Geoffrey.

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• English: short form of JEFFREY , now commonly used as an independent given name, especially in America.

  as a word

• In gv, a male given name, equivalent to English Geoffrey

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Jeff Rawleb. 1951GBEnglish actor
• Jeff Goldblumb. 1952USAmerican actor and musician
• Jeff Lindsayb. 1952USAmerican playwright and crime novelist (born 1952)
• Jeff Koonsb. 1955USAmerican sculptor and painter (born 1955)
• Jeff Foxworthyb. 1958USAmerican comedian, actor, host, and writer
• Jeff Bennettb. 1962USAmerican voice actor
• Jeff Hannemanb. 1964USAmerican guitarist (1964–2013)
• Jeff Kinneyb. 1971USAmerican author and cartoonist (born 1971)
• Jeff Gordonb. 1971USAmerican racing driver
• Jeff Baenab. 1977USAmerican screenwriter and film director (1977–2025)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 511 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Jeff?

We estimate roughly 210 thousand people bear Jeff (counting its spellings and scripts) across 7 countries in our records.

In which country does Jeff have the most bearers?

We estimate about 208 thousand people bear Jeff in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled jeff.

How common is Jeff compared with other names?

In the United States, Jeff is the 130th most common given name of 3,122,706 given names recorded there.

Is Jeff a male or female name?

Jeff is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Jeff mean?

Recorded meaning: pet-form of Geoffrey; first attested Geffe 1260 AssCh