Given name & surname
Duff
“a swarthy man”
Duff is used as a given name and a surname. One interpretation is “a swarthy man.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One interpretation is “a swarthy man.”
Where it comes from
Duff comes from Irish, and ultimately from Scottish Gaelic.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1880. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Duff through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 441
- 441 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1954
- 34 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 6 in 2008. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 34 in 1954. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 395 as a first name in 2020; 16,177 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Duff’s family of names
Duff has a related form in Duffe. Duff has a related form in Duffea. Duff has a related form in Duffee.
The ring: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 6
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
People named Duff
- Duff Gibsonskeleton racerborn 1966
- Duff AbramsAmerican engineer, pioneer in the rheology of cements1880–1965
- Duffy JacksonAmerican musician1953–2021
- Dufferin RoblinCanadian politician (1917-2010)
- Duff GreenAmerican politician (1791-1875)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
Similar names
If you love Duff, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Derry
“from the oak grove” · “from the grove of oak trees”
92% boys · 8% girls
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Gill
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96% boys · 4% girls
Baird
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>99% boys
Duane
“a dark or swarthy man”
>99% boys
Keefe
“a handsome and beloved man”
>99% boys
Rafer
“a wealthy man”
>99% boys