Tiffany

Tiffany: a medieval name with a modern film revival

Tiffany is a medieval form of Theophania, sharing the Greek meaning “manifestation of God.” English says TIFF-uh-nee, with three syllables and the emphasis at the beginning. Its modern sound sits beside a much older religious naming tradition.

Girls born on Epiphany were traditionally given the name. Centuries later, Breakfast at Tiffany’s helped revive it, connecting the same spelling with a film title and the New York jewelry store it names.

Theophania and the Epiphany tradition

Theophania is the feminine form of Theophanes. The older Greek elements combine theos, “God,” with an element meaning “appearing,” producing the idea of a divine manifestation.

In medieval naming, Tiffany became associated with Epiphany on January 6, the festival commemorating the Magi’s visit to the infant Jesus. The calendar supplied a reason for choosing the name, making it more than a shortened form without a particular setting.

The name later died out after the Middle Ages. Its twentieth-century return therefore represents a revival, even though many modern bearers are more immediately associated with the name’s American peak in the 1980s than with its medieval history.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s and a new association

The 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany’s adapted Truman Capote’s 1958 novella. Directed by Blake Edwards, it starred Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly and George Peppard as the writer Paul Varjak.

The Tiffany’s in the title is the jewelry store, rather than the heroine’s first name. Holly visits it as a place of reassurance within her unsettled life, making the shop part of the story’s emotional setting as well as its Manhattan geography.

The production filmed at the Fifth Avenue store and at other New York locations before completing work in Los Angeles. Its title, Hepburn’s performance, and the song Moon River became enduring parts of the film’s recognition.

That visibility helped bring Tiffany back into modern given-name use. The medieval name and the film association thus belong to different chapters: the first explains its older formation, while the second helps explain why it became familiar again to American parents.

Pronunciation and shorter forms

TIFF-uh-nee begins with the short i heard in “sit.” The middle syllable is light, and the final y supplies an ee sound. The complete name usually keeps three syllables in English.

Tiff is an established shortening, retaining the first syllable. Theophania is the longer historical relative, while Tiffany shows how far a medieval spoken form can move from the written appearance of its Greek family.

Popularity in the United States

Tiffany reached its best American girls’ rank in 1982, at number thirteen. Its largest annual count came in 1988, with 18,364 births.

It ranked 495th in 2015, 794th in 2020, and 880th in 2025. Its strongest American generation followed the film revival by several decades, giving the name a particularly clear modern popularity story alongside its much older roots.

How popular is Tiffany?

In 2025, Tiffany ranked #880 among girls in the United States, with 304 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1942; its largest annual count was 18,364 in 1988. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.