Geofrey
An English masculine name transferred from Old French Geoffroi, of Germanic origin, meaning "peace seeker".
Name Census estimates that about 130 living Americans carry the first name Geofrey. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Geofrey today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Geofrey births was 1990 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Geofrey. 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
130
~ 1 in 2,636,572 Americans
Peak year
1990
10 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
1992 SSA rank
#7,793
Tracked since 1953
Census
Geofrey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 327 people with the first name Geofrey, which placed it at #27,781 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
#27,781
National first-name rank
People counted
327
327 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Geofrey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Geofrey is White at 49.2%. The next largest groups are Black (26.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.5%). 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 Geofrey 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 Geofrey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.2% · 161
- Black or African American26.3% · 86
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.5% · 41
- Hispanic or Latino7.6% · 25
- Two or more races4.3% · 14
Popularity
Geofrey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Geofrey from the 1950s through to the 1990s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 57 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Geofrey 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 Geofrey 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 Geofrey
The name Geofrey has its origins in the Germanic languages, with its earliest roots traced back to the Old English and Old Norman French forms, "Gaufrid" or "Geoffroi." The name is believed to have derived from the Germanic elements "gau," meaning "territory" or "district," and "frid," meaning "peace" or "secure." Collectively, the name Geofrey can be interpreted as "peaceful territory" or "secure land."
During the Middle Ages, the name Geofrey gained widespread popularity across Europe, particularly in England and France. It was a common name among the nobility and upper classes, with several notable historical figures bearing the name. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the 11th century, with Geofrey of Monmouth, a British cleric and one of the major figures in the propagation of the Arthurian legends.
In the 12th century, Geofrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou and father of King Henry II of England, was a prominent figure in medieval English history. His son, Geofrey, Duke of Brittany, also played a significant role in the political affairs of the time.
The name Geofrey also appeared in religious and literary works of the era. Geofrey Chaucer, the renowned English poet and author of "The Canterbury Tales," lived from circa 1343 to 1400 and is considered one of the greatest literary figures of the Middle Ages.
In the 16th century, Geofrey Tory, a French scholar and Renaissance humanist, made significant contributions to the development of the French language and typography. His work on standardizing the French alphabet and improving printing techniques had a lasting impact on the field of typography.
Another notable bearer of the name was Geofrey Keating, an Irish Catholic priest and historian who lived from 1569 to 1644. His seminal work, "Foras Feasa ar Éirinn" (The History of Ireland), is considered one of the most important historical sources on early Irish history and culture.
Throughout the centuries, the name Geofrey has maintained a consistent presence, though its popularity has waxed and waned over time. It has been borne by individuals from various walks of life, including scholars, writers, nobility, and religious figures, leaving an indelible mark on the cultural and historical landscapes of their respective eras.
People
Geofrey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Geofrey as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Geofrey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Geofrey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 130 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Geofrey 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 2,636,572 US residents.
Is Geofrey a common name?
We classify Geofrey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 141 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Geofrey most popular?
The single biggest year for Geofrey was 1990, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Geofrey is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Geofrey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 327 people with the name Geofrey, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,781 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 Geofrey 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 Geofrey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Geofrey appears almost entirely male. Of the 318 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Geofrey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Geofrey is White at 49.2%. The next largest groups are Black (26.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.5%). 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 Geofrey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Geofrey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.2% (161 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 Geofrey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Geofrey a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Geofrey 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.
Is Geofrey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Geofrey 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 Geofrey 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 Americans are named Geofrey?
Want to know how many people share the name Geofrey? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.