Winfrey

Boys' name

Joy + peace, through Winfred

Winfrey has been given to 144 babies in the U.S. since 1913. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1932, with 11 recorded.

Babies named Winfrey, 1958

1 in 689,000

Winfrey over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Winfrey: meaning, origin, and history

Joy + peace, through Winfred

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Winfrey means

Winfrey belongs to the name family reached through Winfrey → Winfred. Its meaning is “joy + peace”.

Origin, language, and formation

Winfrey is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Winfred.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 144 boys were recorded with the name Winfrey between 1913 and 1958. Its highest annual count was 11 in 1932; its best national rank was #2,089 in 1913.

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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Winfrey?

Winfrey had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1958, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1958: 1 in 689,000; 6 of 4,133,550 births
Among boys only: 1 in 354,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 1958: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 477,528 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Winfrey 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 1958 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 477,528 children born in 1958 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Winfrey. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Winfreys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Winfrey was born before 1927 — so the typical Winfrey is around 98 today.

Median birth year: 1927; About 98 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 35.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 30.6%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 14; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 35.4% of all recorded uses (51).

Is Winfrey 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: 0%; Peak was 1932 (11)
Years since peak: 93; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 22.2% average annual change
Best rank ever: #2,089; 1913

Spellings of Winfrey

Winfrey is not the most common spelling — Wilfred is, with 72.2% against Winfrey's 0.35%.

Wilfred72.2%29,417
Winfred24.8%10,104
Winifred2.7%1,106
Winfrey0.35%144

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.

Winfrey by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #2,089; 1913
Peak year: 1932; 11 that year
First recorded: 1913
Last recorded: 1958
All-time count: 144
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Winfrey

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

Winner Windham Windsor Winson Caffrey Winferd Winsten Winnie Windel Winslow Geofrey Winchester Decorey Zackrey Winter Jakorey Rorey Zachrey Geffrey Gregrey Lacorey Winsor Montrey Windell

Sibling names for Winfrey

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

For a sister

Louella Billy Donald Ardith Roma Marvel Bobby Shirlee

For a brother

Delano Talmadge Gaylord Franklyn Boyce Carrol Dudley Arlen

Explore around Winfrey

Top names of 1932, Winfrey's peak year The 1930s in full Other names that peaked in 1913 Boys' names starting with W