Fun Facts About the Name Buff
- 78 babies named Buff: U.S. records list 78 babies given the name Buff from 1880 through 2025. Even 31 boys received the name Buff - about 1 boy for every 2 girls.
What Does the Name Buff Mean?
Buff is an English word name whose meaning as a personal name is not firmly established. It is identical to the English word buff, which has several established senses: a soft, thick leather; a dull yellow-brown color; and, in modern use, an enthusiast, as in film buff. The leather and color senses are tied to buffalo hide, and the color term refers to the yellowish leather made from it. The sense "enthusiast" is of uncertain origin and is not the name's etymology.
Buff Name History & Origins
The word buff goes back to Middle French buffle, "buffalo," from Italian bufalo and ultimately Latin bubalus and Greek boubalos, "wild ox." In English it came to denote the soft, thick leather made from buffalo hide and then the pale yellow-brown color of that leather; the verb to buff, meaning to polish, also developed from the leather sense. The use of buff for an enthusiast, familiar in compounds such as film buff and history buff, developed later, and its origin is not securely explained. As a personal name, Buff is used mainly as a nickname or informal given name, so its meaning for a particular bearer depends on the context in which the nickname was given.
How Popular is the Name Buff?
Buff has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 1955. Its best rank was #2,988 in 1955.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | #6,350 | 5 | 0.0002% |
| 1956 | #5,371 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1955 | #2,988 | 15 | 0.0008% |
| 1954 | #3,742 | 10 | 0.0005% |
| 1953 | #5,102 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1952 | #5,642 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | #3,390 | 7 | 0.0003% |
| 1958 | #4,018 | 5 | 0.0002% |
| 1956 | #3,251 | 7 | 0.0003% |
| 1955 | #3,229 | 7 | 0.0003% |
| 1953 | #3,869 | 5 | 0.0003% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
Most Popular Girl Names That Start with B
Short Girl Names That Start with B
How the Name Buff Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You can go to great heights and equally great depths. You are emotional and fixed in your opinions. You are hospitable, sentimental, often psychic, sometimes moody. You are ruled by love and the lack of it and feel a need to be encouraged and appreciated. Emergencies may raise your intuitive abilities in order to resolve conflict or situation. You become very creative under the pressure, and have quite original ideas to make the best out of it.
Position and social status is very important for you and you are always looking for way to improve your position in society. You have power and ability to chose your own destiny and achieve anything you want in life. You can expand in any direction according to your will and the set of values. You have passion for justice and belong to the position of authority. You have an inherent courage and endurance to accomplish "The Impossible Dream". With the power comes responsibility. You hold keys to the material world, but with this gift comes high spiritual responsibility to be fair and true to others. You are philosophical and mature, determined and intense with a desire to endure, often religious.
✦ Buff's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Buff's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.