Geoffrey (given Name)

Geoffrey (given Name)

"Geoffrey", often spelled Jeffrey and abbreviated as "Geoff" or "Jeff" or "Geof", is a male given name in the English-speaking world. Geoffrey originated from an Old French form of a Germanic name. Although the name's second element is "frid", meaning "peace", the first element of the name is disputed. Possible words that it originated from include "gawia" ("territory"), "walah" ("stranger"), "gisil" ("hostage") or "god". It is considered possible that more than one of these words were used as elements of the same name. If "god" was among them, "Geoffrey" would likely be related to the name "Godfrey". Medieval variants on "Geoffrey" include "Jeffrey" and "Jeffery". Jeffrey is sometimes spelled with one f as in Jefrey. Jeffrey and its variants are found as surnames, usually as a patronymic ending in -s (e.g., Jefferies, Jaffrays).

The name was introduced to England by the Normans after William the Conqueror's conquest of England in 1066. It was particularly popular among English nobility.