Jeffre
Masculine given name derived from the English surname Jeffrey, of Old French origin meaning "a peaceful pledge".
Name Census estimates that about 222 living Americans carry the first name Jeffre. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jeffre today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jeffre births was 1962 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jeffre. 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
222
~ 1 in 1,543,938 Americans
Peak year
1962
14 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2007 SSA rank
#13,250
Tracked since 1945
Census
Jeffre in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 432 people with the first name Jeffre, which placed it at #22,880 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
#22,880
National first-name rank
People counted
432
432 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jeffre
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeffre is White at 75.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.0%) and Black (8.6%). 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 Jeffre 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 Jeffre at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.0% · 324
- Hispanic or Latino13.0% · 56
- Black or African American8.6% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 8
- Two or more races1.4% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Jeffre: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jeffre from the 1940s through to the 2000s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 88 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jeffre 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 Jeffre 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 Jeffre
The name Jeffre is derived from the Old French name Geoffroi, which itself originated from the Germanic words "gau" meaning "district" and "frid" meaning "peace." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who lived in a peaceful region or maintained peace within a particular area. The name Geoffroi was introduced to England after the Norman Conquest in 1066 and evolved into the English form Jeffrey or Jeffre.
One of the earliest known records of the name Jeffre can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This document mentions several individuals with the name, indicating its widespread use among the Norman nobility at the time.
In the 12th century, the name Jeffre appeared in the writings of the renowned historian and chronicler, Geoffrey of Monmouth. His influential work, Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), popularized the legends of King Arthur and helped establish Jeffre as a common name among the aristocracy.
During the Middle Ages, several notable figures bore the name Jeffre. One example is Jeffre de Mandeville, a 12th-century nobleman and crusader who fought in the Third Crusade alongside King Richard I of England. Another is Jeffre Chaucer, the renowned 14th-century English poet and author, best known for his Canterbury Tales.
In the 16th century, Jeffre Amherst, an English field marshal and colonial administrator, played a significant role in the conquest of Canada during the French and Indian War. His victories led to the British acquisition of vast territories in North America, and several towns and cities were named in his honor.
Moving forward to the 18th century, Jeffre Archer, an English biographer and dramatist, gained recognition for his works on the lives of notable figures such as Voltaire and Richard Brinsley Sheridan. His plays were widely performed and contributed to the popularization of the name Jeffre in the literary circles of the time.
These are just a few examples of the many historical figures who have borne the name Jeffre throughout the centuries. While its popularity has fluctuated over time, the name has maintained a rich cultural heritage and continues to be used in various parts of the world.
People
Jeffre + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jeffre as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jeffre: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jeffre?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 222 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jeffre 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 1,543,938 US residents.
Is Jeffre a common name?
We classify Jeffre as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 257 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jeffre most popular?
The single biggest year for Jeffre was 1962, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jeffre is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jeffre in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 432 people with the name Jeffre, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,880 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 Jeffre 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 Jeffre?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jeffre leans strongly male. 410 people counted with this name were male (96.7%), compared with 14 female bearers (3.3%). 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 Jeffre?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeffre is White at 75.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.0%) and Black (8.6%). 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 Jeffre most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jeffre in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.0% (324 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 Jeffre in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jeffre a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jeffre 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 Jeffre still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jeffre 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 Jeffre 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 the name Jeffre?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.