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Buford

#10,880 in 2025Boys' name

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Buford has been given to 10,964 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #10,880 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1921, with 334 recorded.

Babies named Buford, 2025

1 in 553,000

Buford over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Buford: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Buford means

Buford is a given name.

The naming story behind Buford

Wikidata records Buford as a male given name. The entity identifier is Q96483067, and the classification was checked on 2026-10-20. The spelling matches a source label or alias exactly, without removing accents or linking it to a name merely because the letters look similar.

A database classification is different from an etymological explanation, so those questions remain open in the short meaning.

A modern root explanation needs an additional naming or linguistic reference.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 10,854 boys were recorded with the name Buford between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 334 in 1921; its best national rank was #311 in 1910.

In the United States, 110 girls were recorded with the name Buford between 1908 and 1952. Its highest annual count was 10 in 1926; its best national rank was #2,156 in 1908.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Buford?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 553,000
6 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 285,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#10,880
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
382,984 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Buford sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 382,984 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Buford. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Bufords were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Buford was born before 1931 — so the typical Buford is around 94 today.

Median birth year
1931
About 94 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
25.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
0.41%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
2,269
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 25.4% of all recorded uses (2,759).

Is Buford rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
1.8%
Peak was 1921 (334)
Years since peak
104
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
31.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#311
1910

Spellings of Buford

Buford is not the most common spelling — Ford is, with 37.4% against Buford's 36.9%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Buford is used

Across 1910–2025, Buford was most concentrated in Tennessee — about 1 in 2,564 boys, against 1 in 12,829 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

039 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Tennessee1 in 2,564
  2. 2Alabama1 in 3,448
  3. 3Mississippi1 in 4,000
  4. 4Kentucky1 in 4,167
  5. 5Arkansas1 in 5,556
  6. 6Georgia1 in 5,882
  7. 7Virginia1 in 6,667
  8. 8Oklahoma1 in 7,692

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Buford has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Notable people named Buford

People whose public names include Buford, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Buford by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#10,880
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
New entry
Best rank ever
#311
1910
Peak year
1921
334 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
10,854
Count in 2025
6

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,156
1908
Peak year
1926
10 that year
First recorded
1908
Last recorded
1952
All-time count
110
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Buford

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

BuffordWilfordSanfordRayfordFordStanfordAlfordRexfordMilfordCrawfordGaylordBradfordStaffordWinfordRadfordLenordCordAshfordManfordGiffordBedfordGilfordMelfordRockford

Names with a curve like Buford

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Buford, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

WilfordWilburnClairRollandHerschelMerrillMilfordOdisMaynardCleoEarleLyman

Sibling names for Buford

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Buford

Top names of 1921, Buford's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1910Boys' names starting with B