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Stafford

#3,932 in 2025Boys' name

Landing-place ford

Stafford has been given to 2,850 babies in the U.S. since 1882. In 2025 it ranked #3,932 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1959, with 53 recorded.

Babies named Stafford, 2025

1 in 118,000

Stafford over time, 1880–2025

Boys
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Stafford: meaning, origin, and history

Landing-place ford

surname transfer

What Stafford means

Stafford means “landing-place ford”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Old English stæþ (“landing place”) + ford. As a surname, occasionally derived from Irish (see Stocker).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Stafford (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Stafford is used in English. Its origins include surname transfer.

Stafford comes through Old English stæþ.

Stafford is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Stafford is pronounced /ˈstæfə(ɹ)d/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,850 boys were recorded with the name Stafford between 1882 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 53 in 1959; its best national rank was #837 in 1884.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #6,245 in 2020 to #3,932 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #6,263 in 2015 to #3,932 in 2025.

How common is Stafford?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 118,000
28 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 61,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#3,932
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
82,069 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Stafford 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 82,069 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Stafford. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Staffords were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Stafford was born before 1956 — so the typical Stafford is around 69 today.

Median birth year
1956
About 69 years old
Biggest decade
1950s
14.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
10.7%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,709
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1950s — 14.7% of all recorded uses (419).

Is Stafford 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
+2,490
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+2,313
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+2,331
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.00×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
52.8%
Peak was 1959 (53)
Years since peak
66
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
34.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#837
1884

Spellings of Stafford

Stafford is not the most common spelling — Sanford is, with 58.7% against Stafford's 11.1%.

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 Stafford is used

Across 1910–2025, Stafford was most concentrated in Louisiana — about 1 in 12,500 boys, against 1 in 166,870 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

08 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Louisiana1 in 12,500
  2. 2Virginia1 in 33,333
  3. 3Alabama1 in —
  4. 4California1 in —
  5. 5Florida1 in —
  6. 6Georgia1 in —
  7. 7Illinois1 in —
  8. 8North Carolina1 in —

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. Stafford has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Stafford around the world

Where Stafford ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1999–2005
    #3,849
    in 2005
  • South Australia
    1946–1987
    #464
    in 1987

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Stafford

People whose public names include Stafford, 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.

Stafford by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#3,932
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 2,313
Best rank ever
#837
1884
Peak year
1959
53 that year
First recorded
1882
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,850
Count in 2025
28

Names similar to Stafford

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

StanfordStarlingStantonCrawfordStavrosRexfordStanislawRockfordRayfordWoodfordRadfordStandfordStanislavHartfordStaceyStandleyWilfordBeaufordSanfordBradfordWinfordAshfordStatlerStanlee

Names with a curve like Stafford

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

DavieRobyArnieWendallDoranRaoulAlonzaLovellElleryPrentissLorenzaLorin

Sibling names for Stafford

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 Stafford

Top names of 1959, Stafford's peak yearThe 1950s in fullOther names that peaked in 1884Boys' names starting with S