How common is the surname Griffin?

198,406 people in the United States had the surname Griffin in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 1,556 Americans. It ranked 122nd of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Griffin?

Blake Griffin, American basketball player (born 1989), followed by Walter Burley Griffin.

Where is the surname Griffin most common?

Wikidata records people named Griffin in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 1 other country.

How do you pronounce Griffin?

Griffin is /ˈɡɹɪfɪn/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Griffin getting more or less common?

More common. 190,636 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 198,406 in 2010, up 4.1%.

Is Griffin also a first name?

Yes. Griffin is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Griffin

A surname, carried by 198,406 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈɡɹɪfɪn/ 2 syllables Soundex G615 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Griffin is more common than 99.9% of them.

Origin

An Irish surname, an anglicization of Ó Gríobhtha or Ó Grifín

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 198,406 people named Griffin in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 1,556 Americans. That is up 4.1% since 2000, when the Census counted 190,636.

#122

rank among US surnames

198,406

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+4.1%

change since 2000 (was #114)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#113	Vasquez	212,781	1,451
#114	Simmons	210,182	1,469
#115	Romero	208,614	1,480
#116	Jordan	208,403	1,481
#117	Patterson	205,423	1,503
#118	Alexander	204,621	1,509
#119	Hamilton	201,746	1,530

Who is named Griffin

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

64% of people named Griffin identified as white (not Hispanic), 31% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.3% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 64%
Black (not Hispanic) 31%
Two or more races 2.3%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.2%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.5%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Griffins

47 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Blake Griffin
American basketball player (born 1989)
Walter Burley Griffin
American architect and landscape architect (1876-1937)
Kathy Griffin
American actress and comedian, born 1960
Michael D. Griffin
American physicist and aerospace engineer, born 1949
Roman Griffin Davis
British actor, born 2007
Johnny Griffin
American musician (1928–2008)
Forrest Griffin
American mixed martial artist, born 1979
David Ray Griffin
American philosopher (1939–2022)
Patty Griffin
American singer-songwriter, born 1964
Marion Mahony Griffin
American architect and artist (1871–1961)
Eddie Griffin
American basketball player (1982-2007)
Kenneth C. Griffin
American billionaire hedge fund manager (born 1968)

Notable Griffins come mostly from the United States (39), the United Kingdom (5) and Australia (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Griffy

Surnames that sound like Griffin

Griffin has the Soundex code G615, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code G615.

Questions

How common is the surname Griffin?: 198,406 people in the United States had the surname Griffin in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 1,556 Americans. It ranked 122nd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Griffin?: In the 2010 Census, 64% of people named Griffin identified as white (not Hispanic), and 31% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Griffin?: Blake Griffin, American basketball player (born 1989), followed by Walter Burley Griffin.
Where is the surname Griffin most common?: Wikidata records people named Griffin in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 1 other country.
How do you pronounce Griffin?: Griffin is /ˈɡɹɪfɪn/, 2 syllables.
Is the surname Griffin getting more or less common?: More common. 190,636 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 198,406 in 2010, up 4.1%.
What are other spellings of Griffin?: Griffy.
Is Griffin also a first name?: Yes. Griffin is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.