# Chaffee (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/chaffee/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Old French.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | French |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 6,053 |
| US rank (2010) | 5,729 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 51,007 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.6% (5,788 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈtʃæfiː/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Old French chauf (“bald”), perhaps through Norman.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Chaffee in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 94% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 1.7% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.9% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.7% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Chaffee in the United States.

## People named Chaffee

- Adna Chaffee, 2nd Chief of Staff of the United States Army (1842–1914)
- Suzy Chaffee, American ski racer and actress
- Emory Leon Chaffee, American physicist
- Nancy Chaffee, American tennis player (1929–2002)

## Similar surnames

Coffee, Caffey, Cuffee, Caffee, Cobb, Coffey, Cope, Chapa, Covey, Cave, Cupp, Cueva.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.