Taffy
A diminutive of Theophania, meaning "manifestation of God".
Name Census estimates that about 701 living Americans carry the first name Taffy. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Taffy today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Taffy births was 1962 (47 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Taffy. 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
701
~ 1 in 488,951 Americans
Peak year
1962
47 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
1996 SSA rank
#13,295
Tracked since 1943
Census
Taffy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 750 people with the first name Taffy, which placed it at #15,361 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
#15,361
National first-name rank
People counted
750
750 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Taffy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Taffy is White at 72.1%. The next largest groups are Black (17.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.9%). 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 Taffy 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 Taffy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.1% · 541
- Black or African American17.5% · 131
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.9% · 29
- Two or more races3.6% · 27
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 3
Popularity
Taffy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Taffy from the 1940s through to the 1990s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 273 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
Taffy 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 Taffy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Taffys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Taffy
The given name Taffy is a diminutive form of the Welsh name Theophilus, derived from the Greek Theophilos, meaning "friend of God" or "loved by God." This name has its roots in ancient Greek and early Christian traditions.
Taffy originated as a nickname in Wales, where the Welsh language and culture have been deeply rooted for centuries. It emerged as a shortened and anglicized version of Theophilus, which was a common name among early Welsh Christians.
In medieval times, the name Theophilus appeared in various religious texts and chronicles, particularly those related to early Christian saints and martyrs. One notable figure was Saint Theophilus of Antioch, a 2nd-century bishop and early Christian theologian known for his work "Apologia ad Autolycum" (Apology to Autolycus).
The earliest recorded instances of the name Taffy can be traced back to the 16th century in Wales. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Taffy ap Robert, a Welsh landowner and politician who lived in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Taffy. One of the most famous was Taffy Davies (1592-1667), a Welsh Anglican clergyman and author who wrote extensively on religious subjects and was known for his sermons.
Another prominent figure was Taffy Seymour (1822-1897), a Welsh-born Australian cricketer who played for the Victoria and New South Wales colonial teams in the mid-19th century. He was renowned for his skill as a wicket-keeper and his contribution to the early development of cricket in Australia.
In the realm of literature, Taffy Bianca (1858-1939) was a Welsh-born American journalist and author who wrote extensively about Welsh culture and language. Her works, including "The Mabinogion" and "Welsh Fairy Tales," helped preserve and promote Welsh folklore and traditions.
Taffy Thomas (1911-1998) was a Welsh rugby union player who played as a flanker for Wales and the British Lions in the 1930s. He is considered one of the greatest Welsh rugby players of his era and was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 2011.
While the name Taffy is primarily associated with Welsh culture and heritage, it has also been adopted by individuals from other backgrounds, particularly in English-speaking countries with strong historical ties to Wales, such as England, Canada, and the United States.
People
Taffy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Taffy 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
Taffy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Taffy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 701 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Taffy 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 488,951 US residents.
Is Taffy a common name?
We classify Taffy as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 875 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Taffy most popular?
The single biggest year for Taffy was 1962, when 47 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Taffy is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Taffy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 750 people with the name Taffy, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,361 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 Taffy 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 Taffy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Taffy leans strongly female. 742 people counted with this name were female (98.3%), compared with 13 male bearers (1.7%). 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 Taffy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Taffy is White at 72.1%. The next largest groups are Black (17.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.9%). 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 Taffy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Taffy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.1% (541 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 Taffy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Taffy a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Taffy 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 Taffy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Taffy 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 Taffy 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 are called Taffy?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.