Griffin
- Pronunciation
- [Gri-ffin]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Surname.
- Origin
- Irish
About the Name Griffin
Griffin descends from the Welsh personal name Gruffudd (also spelled Griffith, Gruffydd), traditionally derived from gryf meaning "strong" or "chief" plus a separate root. The Welsh form has been continuously used in Wales for over a millennium, anchored by multiple medieval Welsh princes including Gruffudd ap Llywelyn (the last native Prince of Wales killed in 1063 fighting the Saxons) and various Welsh kings of Gwynedd.
The name's other major register is mythological: the griffin (also gryphon) is a legendary creature from ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology — half eagle (representing the sky and divine power) and half lion (representing earthly royalty) — depicted as a guardian of treasures and divine secrets. The mythological griffin appears throughout medieval European heraldry and architecture, making the name's English-language register simultaneously Welsh-historical and mythological.
The contemporary American Griffin surge is part of the broader 21st-century surge in surname-style boys' names with mythological or heritage register. The name climbed from outside the US top 200 in 1995 to the US top 200 boys' rank by 2014 and the top 200 since. Notable bearers include American actor Griffin Dunne (the 1985 Martin Scorsese cult film After Hours) and contemporary American basketball player Griffin Conine. The name's appeal sits in three contemporary American naming preferences: the surname-style sophistication, the in-built mythological-and-Welsh-historical depth, and the strong masculine sound. Two firm syllables, hard consonants, and tonal versatility across casual and formal registers. Common nicknames Griff (the dominant short form, casual and adult), Griffy, and the rare Fin (back-end shortening) each carry distinct registers. International forms include the Welsh original Gruffudd, Gryphon (an alternate English spelling), and the related Welsh Griffith.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Griffin
US Popularity History (2000–2025)
Annual US births named Griffin by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2023 with 1,726 boys named Griffin (boy rank #214 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #222 for boys (1,627 US births). That's 8 places below its 2023 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Griffin Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Griffin the strongest states are Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vermont | #77 | 48 |
| 2 | Maine | #99 | 129 |
| 3 | New Hampshire | #105 | 137 |
| 4 | Minnesota | #117 | 530 |
| 5 | North Dakota | #127 | 87 |
| 6 | Wisconsin | #135 | 455 |
| 7 | South Dakota | #141 | 88 |
| 8 | Indiana | #145 | 564 |
| 9 | Utah | #148 | 336 |
| 10 | Massachusetts | #148 | 433 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | #402 | 772 |
| 2 | New Mexico | #394 | 15 |
| 3 | California | #372 | 906 |
| 4 | Mississippi | #361 | 84 |
| 5 | Nevada | #354 | 82 |
| 6 | Florida | #350 | 485 |
| 7 | Arizona | #347 | 206 |
| 8 | New Jersey | #324 | 237 |
| 9 | Louisiana | #302 | 172 |
| 10 | New York | #300 | 572 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Griffin in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Looking for names like Griffin?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Griffin to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Griffin against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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