The GRIFFIN surname in the USA

Frequency Comparisons
	Total	Rank	Frequency %	Per million people
United States
United States (Current snapshot)	190,636	114	0.071	707
United States (1880 census)	44,601	97	0.089	892
Change since 1880	+146035	-17	-0.018	-185
Other Countries
Australia	5,333	259	0.033	326
United Kingdom	22,830	232	0.05	497

Top States for GRIFFIN by Total
State	Total	Rank in State	Frequency %	Per million people
Texas	15,716	126	0.075	754
Florida	13,465	96	0.084	842
Georgia	12,363	51	0.151	1,510
North Carolina	11,932	55	0.148	1,482
California	11,229	264	0.033	332
Top States for GRIFFIN by Frequency
State	Total	Rank in State	Frequency %	Per million people
Mississippi	5,548	47	0.195	1,950
Alabama	7,014	72	0.158	1,577
Georgia	12,363	51	0.151	1,510
South Carolina	5,967	76	0.149	1,487
North Carolina	11,932	55	0.148	1,482

Notes

Total is the total number of people with that surname.
Rank is the position in the list of names ordered by total (eg, a rank of 1 means that it's the most common name, and a rank of 10 means it's the tenth most common, etc).
Frequency is the percentage of people with that surname.
Per million people is the number of people with that surname per million of the population.

'A figure of zero indicates that we don't have data for this name (usually because it's quite uncommon and our stats don't go down that far). It doesn't mean that there's no-one with that name at all!

For less common surnames, the figures get progressively less reliable the fewer holders of that name there are. This data is aggregated from several public lists, and some stats are interpolated from known values. The margin of error is well over 100% at the rarest end of the table!

For less common surnames, the frequency and "per million" values may be 0 even though there are people with that name. That's because they represent less than one in a million of the population, which ends up as 0 after rounding.

It's possible for a surname to gain in rank and/or total while being less common per million people (or vice versa) as there are now more surnames in the USA as a result of immigration. In mathematical terms, the tail has got longer, with a far larger number of less common surnames.

Figures for top states show firstly the states where most people called GRIFFIN live. This obviously tends to be biased towards the most populous states. The second set of figures show where people called GRIFFIN represent the biggest proportion of the population. So, in this case, there are more people called GRIFFIN in Texas than any other state, but you are more likely to find a GRIFFIN by picking someone at random in Mississippi than anywhere else.

Classification and Origin of GRIFFIN

Region of origin: British Isles

Country of origin: Wales

Language of origin: Welsh

Ethnic origin: Celtic

Religious origin: Christian

Name derivation: From given name or forename

Data for religion and/or language relates to the culture in which the GRIFFIN surname originated. It does not necessarily have any correlation with the language spoken, or religion practised, by the majority of current American citizens with that name.

Data for ethnic origin relates to the region and country in which the GRIFFIN surname originated. It does not necessarily have any correlation with the ethnicity of the majority of current American citizens with that name.

Ethnic distribution of GRIFFIN in the USA

Classification	Total	Percent
Native American/Alaskan	953	0.5
Asian/Pacific	648	0.34
White (Caucasian)	126,697	66.46
Black/African American	56,752	29.77
Mixed Race	2,974	1.56
White (Hispanic)	2,593	1.36

Ethnic distribution data shows the number and percentage of people with the GRIFFIN surname who reported their ethnic background as being in these broad categories in the most recent national census.

Meaning of GRIFFIN in historical publications

A name given to a noted man, whose qualities or disposition, in some respects, resembled this fabulous creature. Griffwn, in Welsh, is applied to a man having a crooked nose, like a hawk's bill. Gryffyn, in the Cornish British, signifies "to give." It may be the same as Griffith.

Arthur, William (1857) An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman. Public Domain.

GRIFFIN. A common baptismal name in Wales. Domesday shews us a Grifin in Cornwall, and in Chesliire a Grifin lice, first a fiivom-ite of Edw. the Confessor, and afterwards a rebel against him. He was probably a Welsli border prince. The same old record presents us with a " Grifin puer" and a " Grifin filiusMariadoc," most likely identical, as a tenant in chief in co. Hereford.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.

Similar names to GRIFFIN

The following names have similar spellings or pronunciations as GRIFFIN.

This does not necessarily imply a direct relationship between the names, but may indicate names that could be mistaken for this one when written down or misheard.