Duffie
A diminutive of Duff, a Scottish surname derived from the Gaelic dubh meaning "black".
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Duffie. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 85.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Duffie today is around 84 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Duffie births was 1918 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Duffie. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Duffie is about 84 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Duffies were born before 1952.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Duffie. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
1918
10 babies that year
Average age
84
years old
1951 SSA rank
#3,448
Tracked since 1913
Gender
Gender distribution for Duffie
Duffie leans heavily male at 85.0% of total registrations, but 6 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Duffie as a male name
- Ranked #3,448 in 1951
- 6 male births in 1951
- Peak: 1918 (10 births)
Duffie as a female name
- Ranked #4,053 in 1916
- 6 female births in 1916
- Peak: 1916 (6 births)
Popularity
Duffie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Duffie from the 1910s through to the 1950s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 21 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Duffie 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 Duffie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Duffie
The name Duffie is of Scottish origin, derived from the Gaelic word "dubh," meaning "dark" or "black." It is believed to have emerged as a nickname in the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century, referring to someone with dark hair or a swarthy complexion.
The earliest recorded use of the name Duffie can be traced back to the 16th century, when it appeared in various Scottish historical records and documents. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Duffie MacKay, a Scottish clan chief who lived in the late 16th century and is mentioned in the annals of the MacKay clan.
In the 17th century, the name Duffie gained some prominence in Scotland, particularly in the Highlands and Islands regions. One notable figure from this period was Duffie MacLeod, a Scottish warrior who fought alongside the Marquis of Montrose during the Scottish Civil War in the 1640s.
As the name spread beyond Scotland, it also found its way into literature and popular culture. In the 19th century, Sir Walter Scott, the famous Scottish novelist, featured a character named Duffie Doak in his novel "The Antiquary," published in 1816. This helped to popularize the name and introduce it to a wider audience.
Another notable bearer of the name Duffie was Duffie Caldwell (1888-1962), an American professional baseball player who played for several Major League Baseball teams in the early 20th century, including the New York Giants and the Boston Red Sox.
In more recent times, one of the most famous individuals with the name Duffie is Duffie Meade (born 1950), an American economist and former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. He is known for his contributions to the field of financial economics and his research on asset pricing and risk management.
People
Duffie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Duffie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Duffie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Duffie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Duffie 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Duffie a common name?
We classify Duffie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 40 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Duffie most popular?
The single biggest year for Duffie was 1918, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Duffie is about 84 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Duffie a male name?
Yes, 85.0% of people registered as Duffie in the SSA data are male. 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.
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.