Griffin

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

• English:/ˈɡɹɪf.ɪn/●(recorded in a dictionary) from Wiktionary

Attested across 12 languages in the etymology graph.

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Griffin, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Beckett
• Everett
• Flynn
• Nolan
• Jasper

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Griffin is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish surname7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, France, Argentina, Brazil

  Languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese

  Also written Grïffïn

• a separate name2 spellings in the group
• Polish surname25 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Poland, Czechia, United Kingdom

  Languages: Polish, Russian, Czech

  Also written Гриффин, Гріффін, Гриффина, Грифин, Grifin

• Thai surname9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Thailand, United Kingdom, Laos

  Languages: Thai, Lao

  Also written กริฟฟิน, Giffin, กริ๊ฟฟิน, กริฟฟิ่น, กรฟฟน

71 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Griffin is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, pet form of Welsh Gruffudd; first attested Grifin 1066 DB. In border counties from Wales, in the east via Bretons.

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In English, probably from Welsh Gruffydd/Griffith; earliest citation cited: ELS Cumberland, p.7, Blencow, Thomas Griffin.

  as a name·Welsh Surnames

• nickname for a fierce or dangerous person, from Middle English griffin ‘gryphon’ (from Latin gryphus, Greek gryps, of Assyrian origin).

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• Anglicized (part translated) form of Gaelic 6 Gn'obhtha ‘descendant of Griobhtha', a personal name from gnoM ‘gryphon’.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• Welsh: from a medieval Latinized form, Griffinus, of Griffith.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• Nick Griffinb. 1959GBBritish politician (born 1959)
• Grey DeLisleb. 1973USnot in their usual nameAmerican voice actress and singer-songwriter
• Blake Griffinb. 1989USAmerican basketball player (born 1989)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

65 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 35 countries.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What does the name Griffin mean, and where does it come from?

(i) Medieval nickname for a fierce person; (ii) different form of Griffith; (iii) from Irish Gaelic Ó Griobhtha, ‘descendant of Griobhtha’ (‘gryphon’). Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].

What are other forms of the name Griffin?

In the etymology graph, Griffith is a form of the same name in other languages.

Which countries have the most people with the surname Griffin?

In the United States, the national register counted about 198 thousand people named Griffin, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled griffin. After it come United Kingdom, Ghana, Canada and Australia; the country table on this page ranks them.

Where is Griffin most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Griffin is densest in St. Kitts & Nevis — about 1 in 328 people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.

How do you pronounce Griffin?

In English /ˈɡɹɪf.ɪn/ (Wiktionary).

How common is the name Griffin?

In the United States, the national register counted 198,406 people named Griffin in 2010, about 1 in 1.7 thousand residents.

How common is Griffin compared with other names?

In the United States, Griffin is the 101st most common surname of 6,282,806 surnames recorded there.