Meaning & origin
Where it comes from
Zeffie is a diminutive of Josephine. Josephine comes from French.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
In English usage, Zeffie is a diminutive of Josephine.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1892. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Zeffie through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 130
- 0 boys · 130 girls
- Most popular year
- 1927
- 12 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 girls is 5 in 1948. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 12 in 1927.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Zeffie’s family of names
In English usage, Zeffie is a diminutive of Josephine.
The ring: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
People named Zeffie
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Zeffie, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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19% boys · 81% girls
Harvie
“one who is ready for battle” · “a strong man”
18% boys · 82% girls