Zeffie

Girls' name

(God) shall add, through Josephine

Zeffie has been given to 130 babies in the U.S. since 1892. 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 1927, with 12 recorded.

Babies named Zeffie, 1948

1 in 690,000

Zeffie over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Zeffie: meaning, origin, and history

(God) shall add, through Josephine

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Zeffie means

Zeffie belongs to the name family reached through Zeffie → Josephine → Joseph. Its meaning is “(God) shall add”.

Origin, language, and formation

Zeffie is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Josephine and Joseph.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Zeffie is pronounced /ˈzɛfi/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 130 girls were recorded with the name Zeffie between 1892 and 1948. Its highest annual count was 12 in 1927; its best national rank was #1,415 in 1906.

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 Zeffie?

Zeffie had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1948, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1948: 1 in 690,000; 5 of 3,452,053 births
Among girls only: 1 in 340,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1948: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 478,557 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Zeffie sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1948 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 478,557 children born in 1948 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Zeffie. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Zeffies were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Zeffie was born before 1915 — so the typical Zeffie is around 110 today.

Median birth year: 1915; About 110 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 33.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 26.9%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 0; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 33.8% of all recorded uses (44).

Is Zeffie 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 1927 (12)
Years since peak: 98; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 27.8% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,415; 1906

Spellings of Zeffie

Zeffie is not the most common spelling — Effie is, with 90.3% against Zeffie's 0.27%.

Effie90.3%44,256
Zettie3.0%1,458
Zelie2.6%1,264
Jeffie2.1%1,012
Buffie1.8%869
Zeffie0.27%130

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.

Zeffie by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #1,415; 1906
Peak year: 1927; 12 that year
First recorded: 1892
Last recorded: 1948
All-time count: 130
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Zeffie

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

Taffie Caffie Alfie Leafie Offie Affie Elfie Cliffie Raffie Buffie Jeffie Steffie Kaffie Stefie Daffie Zofie Duffie Sofie Soffie Effie

Sibling names for Zeffie

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

Darline Leatrice Pearline Ima Belva Edward George Paul

For a brother

Frances Jewel Napoleon Raymon Merlin Domenick Jules Bud

Explore around Zeffie

Top names of 1927, Zeffie's peak year The 1920s in full Other names that peaked in 1906 Girls' names starting with Z