Buffi
A diminutive pet form of the English name Bridget or Brigitta.
Name Census estimates that about 173 living Americans carry the first name Buffi. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Buffi today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Buffi births was 1975 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Buffi. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
173
~ 1 in 1,981,239 Americans
Peak year
1975
22 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
1981 SSA rank
#10,609
Tracked since 1967
Census
Buffi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 175 people with the first name Buffi, which placed it at #41,669 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#41,669
National first-name rank
People counted
175
175 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Buffi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Buffi is White at 87.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.0%) and Black (3.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Buffi described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Buffi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.4% · 153
- Two or more races8.0% · 14
- Black or African American3.4% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino0.6% · 1
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1
Popularity
Buffi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Buffi from the 1960s through to the 1980s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 151 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Buffi by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Buffi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Buffis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Buffi
The name Buffi has its origins in the Old English language, tracing back to the early medieval period around the 7th century AD. It is derived from the Old English word "buffe," meaning "to strike" or "to buffet." This suggests that the name may have originally been associated with warriors or soldiers who engaged in combat.
In the Anglo-Saxon era, the name Buffi was predominantly used in regions such as Mercia, Northumbria, and Wessex, which were the major kingdoms of what is now England. The earliest recorded instance of the name dates back to the 9th century, where it appears in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landowners and properties commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086.
While the name Buffi does not appear to have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it was likely influenced by the cultural and linguistic traditions of the Germanic tribes that settled in Britain during the migration period.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Buffi was Buffi of Mercia, a nobleman who lived in the late 8th century and was recorded as holding lands in the region of Mercia. Another early bearer of the name was Buffi the Scribe, a monk from Northumbria who lived in the 9th century and was renowned for his calligraphic skills in producing illuminated manuscripts.
In the 11th century, a figure known as Buffi the Bold was a prominent warrior who fought alongside William the Conqueror during the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. His bravery and skill in battle were celebrated in contemporaneous chronicles.
Later historical figures with the name Buffi include Buffi Longstrider, a 13th-century explorer who is said to have traveled extensively through the Middle East and parts of Asia, documenting his journeys in a now-lost manuscript.
In the 15th century, Buffi de Montfort was a renowned architect and stonemason who worked on the construction of several notable cathedrals and abbeys in England, including the nave of Winchester Cathedral.
These examples demonstrate the enduring presence of the name Buffi throughout various periods of history, reflecting its roots in the Old English language and its associations with warriors, scholars, and skilled craftsmen.
People
Buffi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Buffi as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Buffi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Buffi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 173 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Buffi going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,981,239 US residents.
Is Buffi a common name?
We classify Buffi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 194 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Buffi most popular?
The single biggest year for Buffi was 1975, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Buffi is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Buffi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 175 people with the name Buffi, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,669 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Buffi in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Buffi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Buffi leans strongly female. 181 people counted with this name were female (98.9%), compared with 2 male bearers (1.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Buffi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Buffi is White at 87.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.0%) and Black (3.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Buffi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Buffi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.4% (153 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Buffi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Buffi a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Buffi in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Buffi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Buffi in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Buffi can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Buffi?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.