Buffy
Buffy was last recorded in 2024, when 6 babies were given it; 3,312 Americans have been recorded with it between 1951 and 2024 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,090 Americans named Buffy and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 53 years old and half are between 50 and 56.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Buffy by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Buffy mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Buffy is “a diminutive of the female given name Elizabeth.”
A pet form of Elizabeth (cf. Bethy), based on a child’s unsuccessful attempts to pronounce the name. Popularized by the Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise.
/ˈbʌfi/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Buffy?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #13,782, in 2024; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
320 babies in 1971, the peak
Buffy peaked in 1971, when 320 babies were given it (314 girls, #565 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 6 | #13,782 | under 0.01 |
| 2023 | 8 | #11,362 | under 0.01 |
| 2022 | 7 | #12,485 | under 0.01 |
| 2021 | 7 | #12,448 | under 0.01 |
| 2020 | 7 | #12,383 | under 0.01 |
| 2017 | 8 | #11,847 | under 0.01 |
| 2013 | 8 | #12,189 | under 0.01 |
| 2005 | 5 | #16,944 | under 0.01 |
| 2003 | 6 | #14,152 | under 0.01 |
| 2002 | 5 | #15,837 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (41)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 9 | #8,579 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 6 | #10,540 | under 0.01 |
| 1987 | 7 | #8,892 | under 0.01 |
| 1986 | 9 | #7,198 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 12 | #5,715 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 21 | #3,745 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 25 | #3,255 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 47 | #2,151 | 0.03 |
| 1981 | 52 | #2,011 | 0.03 |
| 1980 | 94 | #1,340 | 0.06 |
| 1979 | 95 | #1,315 | 0.06 |
| 1978 | 135 | #1,008 | 0.09 |
| 1977 | 156 | #905 | 0.10 |
| 1976 | 212 | #696 | 0.14 |
| 1975 | 247 | #633 | 0.17 |
| 1974 | 233 | #653 | 0.16 |
| 1973 | 252 | #612 | 0.17 |
| 1972 | 319 | #529 | 0.21 |
| 1971 | 314 | #565 | 0.19 |
| 1970 | 282 | #614 | 0.16 |
| 1969 | 243 | #634 | 0.14 |
| 1968 | 239 | #621 | 0.15 |
| 1967 | 157 | #794 | 0.10 |
| 1966 | 24 | #2,457 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 6 | #5,878 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 5 | #6,870 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 6 | #5,441 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 12 | #3,399 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 10 | #3,742 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 5 | #5,744 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 5 | #5,490 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Buffy a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Buffy has been given almost only to girls: 6 boys in 41 years of records.
Girls and boys named Buffy: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Buffy, and how old are they?
3,090 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 3,312 Americans ever recorded as Buffy. The median Buffy alive today is 53 years old; half are between 50 and 56.
The 2020 Census counted 2,865 people named Buffy (2,836 women and girls, 29 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,115 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 34 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,800 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 181 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 16 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 51 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Buffy born?
The states with the most babies named Buffy are California, Ohio and Georgia, with 28% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 287 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 170 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Georgia | 168 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Tennessee | 148 | not ranked | 2.0× |
| Texas | 137 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| North Carolina | 109 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Michigan | 107 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Kentucky | 104 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 100 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Florida | 99 | not ranked | 0.9× |
Where Buffy is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Buffy is most over-represented in Tennessee: since 1951 it was given 2.0 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Buffy with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 4,471 babies since 1880, Buffy is the most given (74% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Buffy
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Buffy and names like it
- Compare Buffy and BuffieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sBuffy peaked in 1971.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Buffy since 1910.
- The top names of 1971The year the most babies were named Buffy.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Buffy alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with BMost given first.