Taffany
A feminine name derived from the English place name Taffia, meaning "from Taffia".
Name Census estimates that about 203 living Americans carry the first name Taffany. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Taffany today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Taffany births was 1988 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Taffany. 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
203
~ 1 in 1,688,445 Americans
Peak year
1988
24 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
1994 SSA rank
#15,493
Tracked since 1967
Census
Taffany in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 134 people with the first name Taffany, which placed it at #48,062 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
#48,062
National first-name rank
People counted
134
134 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
50.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Taffany
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Taffany is Black at 50.7%. The next largest groups are White (32.1%) and Hispanic (8.2%). 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 Taffany 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 Taffany at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American50.7% · 68
- White32.1% · 43
- Hispanic or Latino8.2% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native4.5% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 4
- Two or more races1.5% · 2
Popularity
Taffany: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Taffany from the 1960s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 110 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
Taffany 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 Taffany 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 Taffany
The name Taffany is an anglicized form of the French name Tiphaine, which originated from the Germanic name Theophania. It is derived from the Greek words "theos" meaning "God" and "phainein" meaning "to show or reveal." This suggests that the name Taffany has a meaning related to the manifestation or revelation of God.
In the medieval period, the name Tiphaine was particularly popular in Brittany, a region in northwestern France. It was borne by Tiphaine Raguenel, a 14th-century Breton woman who was known for her skills in astrology and divination. She served as an advisor to several French nobles, including the Duke of Brittany.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Taffany can be found in the 16th century. In 1561, a woman named Taffany Hewet was mentioned in the records of the Parish of St. Mary Abchurch in London, England.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the name Taffany. One of the most famous was Taffany Gwinnett (1658-1734), an English botanist and naturalist. She was known for her contributions to the study of plant life and her extensive collection of botanical specimens.
Another notable Taffany was Taffany Prideaux (1786-1863), a British artist and illustrator. She is renowned for her detailed and vivid depictions of natural landscapes and wildlife, particularly birds.
In the 19th century, Taffany Forrester (1819-1897) was a prominent American educator and advocate for women's rights. She founded several schools and was actively involved in the suffrage movement, campaigning for women's right to vote.
During the early 20th century, Taffany Everett (1901-1983) was a distinguished American author and poet. Her works often explored themes of identity, love, and social justice, earning her critical acclaim and numerous literary awards.
Taffany Marchand (1925-2011) was a French actress and dancer who graced the stage and screen with her captivating performances. She is particularly remembered for her roles in several classic French films of the 1950s and 1960s.
People
Taffany + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Taffany as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Taffany: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Taffany?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 203 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Taffany 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 1,688,445 US residents.
Is Taffany a common name?
We classify Taffany as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 219 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Taffany most popular?
The single biggest year for Taffany was 1988, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Taffany is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Taffany in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 134 people with the name Taffany, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #48,062 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 Taffany 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 Taffany?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Taffany leans strongly female. 137 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 2 male bearers (1.4%). 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 Taffany?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Taffany is Black at 50.7%. The next largest groups are White (32.1%) and Hispanic (8.2%). 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 Taffany most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Taffany in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.7% (68 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 Taffany in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Taffany a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Taffany 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 Taffany still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Taffany 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 Taffany 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 Taffany?
Want to know how many Americans are named Taffany? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.