How common is the surname Jaffe?

5,865 people in the United States had the surname Jaffe in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 52,642 Americans. It ranked 5,886th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Jaffe?

In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Jaffe identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.6% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Jaffe?

Sam Jaffe, American actor, teacher, musician and engineer (1891-1984), followed by Marielle Jaffe.

Where is the surname Jaffe most common?

Wikidata records people named Jaffe in the United States.

Is the surname Jaffe getting more or less common?

Less common. 6,029 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 5,865 in 2010, down 2.7%.

The surname Jaffe

A Hebrew surname, carried by 5,865 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex J100

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Jaffe is more common than 96.4% of them.

Origin

Hebrew origin

Borrowed from Hebrew יפה (yafé, “beautiful, comely”).

One of 51 Hebrew surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 5,865 people named Jaffe in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 52,642 Americans. That is down 2.7% since 2000, when the Census counted 6,029.

#5,886

rank among US surnames

5,865

people in 2010

2.0

per 100,000 Americans

-2.7%

change since 2000 (was #5,322)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#5,878	Wen	5,870	52,597
#5,881	Spinks	5,868	52,615
#5,884	Dibble	5,866	52,633
#5,886	Halpin	5,865	52,642
#5,888	Shupe	5,861	52,678
#5,889	Albano	5,860	52,687

Who is named Jaffe

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

95% of people named Jaffe identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.6% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.2% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 95%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.6%
Two or more races 1.2%
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.0%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.5%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.1%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Jaffes

6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Sam Jaffe
American actor, teacher, musician and engineer (1891-1984)
Marielle Jaffe
American actress, singer and model, born 1989
Taliesin Jaffe
American actor, born 1977
Charles Jaffe
American chess player, 1879–1941
Stanley R. Jaffe
American film producer (1940–2025)
David Jaffe
American video game designer, born 1971

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Yaffe

Jaffe has the Soundex code J100, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code J100.

Other Hebrew surnames

All 51 Hebrew surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Jaffe come from?: Borrowed from Hebrew יפה (yafé, “beautiful, comely”).
How common is the surname Jaffe?: 5,865 people in the United States had the surname Jaffe in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 52,642 Americans. It ranked 5,886th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Jaffe?: In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Jaffe identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.6% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Jaffe?: Sam Jaffe, American actor, teacher, musician and engineer (1891-1984), followed by Marielle Jaffe.
Where is the surname Jaffe most common?: Wikidata records people named Jaffe in the United States.
Is the surname Jaffe getting more or less common?: Less common. 6,029 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 5,865 in 2010, down 2.7%.
What are other spellings of Jaffe?: Yaffe.