Jeffrey

Where the name comes from

• Germanic (Frankish / Old High German), via Medieval Latin and Old French
  Second element: ‘peace’. First element: Origin uncertain (several Germanic words merged)
  first element: Gaut ‘Geat’ (tribal name), walh ‘foreigner, stranger’, or gaisa ‘arrow’ (DMNES); or gewi ‘district’ (Online Etymology Dictionary) + Old High German fridu ‘peace’
  Jeffrey is an English spelling of Geoffrey. The Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources lists three possible first elements and notes that “many different origins all developed into Middle French Geoffrey”; the Online Etymology Dictionary proposes Old High German gewi ‘district’. Both agree that the second element is fridu ‘peace’. The name is often confused with Godfrey, a different name.

Jeffrey across traditions

• Frankish and French. Recorded in France around 823 (Latin Joffredus); later French forms include Geoffroy and Geffroi.
• Norman and English. Attested in England by the late 11th century. Latin records use Gaufridus or Galfridus; the English spellings Jeffrey (1532–33) and Jeffery (1558) appear in the 16th century. Pet forms Gep and Jep show up in family bynames in 1379.
• Catalan, Italian and Iberian. Medieval records include Catalan Jofre, Italian Latin Gausfredo (967) and Spanish Latin Gaucefredo (1006).
• English literature. Geoffrey Chaucer, author of the Canterbury Tales, is called the father of English literature.
• United States (SSA). 1,151,698 combined births in the SSA decade tables, 1950s–2010s (Jeffrey 927,241 + Jeffery 199,549 + Geoffrey 24,908). Peak decade: the 1960s (381,563 births), when Jeffrey ranked #10 and Jeffery #46 among boys. Top 100 in every decade from the 1950s through the 1990s. Geoffrey made the top 200 only in the 1970s (#193) and 1980s (#200).

Who carried it

• Geoffrey Chaucer (Born between 1340 and 1344; died October 25, 1400): English poet, author of the Canterbury Tales; “Father of English literature”

Forms in other languages

Geoffrey, Jeffery, Jeff, Geoffroy, Jofre, Gaufridus, Galfridus

Jeffrey in letter-number systems

Hebrew, Greek and other traditions gave every letter a number, and read meaning into the totals. These are the counts, computed; the readings are inside the Innerverse.