Griff
Of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "hooked nose" or "curved beak".
Name Census estimates that about 233 living Americans carry the first name Griff. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Griff today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Griff births was 1960 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Griff. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Griff with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
233
~ 1 in 1,471,049 Americans
Peak year
1960
14 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,384
Tracked since 1923
Census
Griff in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 384 people with the first name Griff, which placed it at #24,893 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
#24,893
National first-name rank
People counted
384
384 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Griff
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Griff is White at 84.9%. The next largest groups are Black (6.0%) and Hispanic (4.4%). 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 Griff 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 Griff at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.9% · 326
- Black or African American6.0% · 23
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 17
- Two or more races3.4% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Griff: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Griff from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 60 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Griff remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Griff 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 Griff 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 Griff
The name Griff has its roots in the Old English and Old Welsh languages, dating back to the early medieval period. It is derived from the Old English word "griff," which means "force" or "courage," and the Old Welsh word "gruffudd," meaning "strong chief."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Griff can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which mentions a warrior named Griff who fought alongside King Alfred the Great in the 9th century. This suggests that the name was already in use among the Anglo-Saxons at that time.
In Welsh history, the name Gruffudd was borne by several prominent figures, including Gruffudd ap Llywelyn, a ruler of the Kingdom of Gwynedd in the 11th century. He played a significant role in the conflicts between the Welsh kingdoms and the Norman invaders.
Another notable bearer of the name was Gruffudd ap Cynan, a 12th-century King of Gwynedd who fought to defend Welsh sovereignty against the Norman rulers of England. He is remembered as a symbol of Welsh resistance and national pride.
During the Middle Ages, the name Griff also appeared in various literary works and historical records across Europe. One example is the 14th-century French epic poem "Roman de Renart," which features a character named Grimbert, a variant of the name Griff.
In more recent times, several famous individuals have borne the name Griff. Griff Rhys Jones, born in 1953, is a Welsh actor, comedian, and writer known for his work on British television shows like "Not the Nine O'Clock News" and "Alas Smith and Jones."
Griff Furst, born in 1942, is an American film director and producer who has worked on several notable projects, including the 1981 movie "The Canterbury Tales" and the 1988 film "Barfly."
Griff Harsh, born in 1957, is an American former professional baseball player who played for teams like the Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1980s.
Griff Rees, born in 1918 and died in 1984, was a Welsh rugby union player who represented Wales in international matches and played for the Neath rugby club.
Griff Rhys Williams, born in 1839 and died in 1911, was a Welsh writer and journalist who contributed significantly to the preservation and promotion of the Welsh language and culture.
People
Griff + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Griff 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
Griff: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Griff?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 233 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Griff 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 1,471,049 US residents.
Is Griff a common name?
We classify Griff as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 286 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Griff most popular?
The single biggest year for Griff was 1960, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Griff is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Griff in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 384 people with the name Griff, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,893 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 Griff 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 Griff?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Griff leans strongly male. 375 people counted with this name were male (97.7%), compared with 9 female bearers (2.3%). 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 Griff?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Griff is White at 84.9%. The next largest groups are Black (6.0%) and Hispanic (4.4%). 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 Griff most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Griff in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.9% (326 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 Griff in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Griff a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Griff 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 Griff still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Griff 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 Griff 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 have Griff as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.