Jeffrey is a common English given name, and a variant form of the name Geoffrey (itself from a Middle French variant of Godfrey, Gottfried).
It has been argued that the common derivation of Middle French Geoffrey (or Geoffroy), Jeffery from Godfrey is mistaken, and that the names reflect two separate first Germanic elements god vs. gaut, which became conflated in Old High German by the end of the early medieval period.
Outside of North America, Geoffrey is more common than Jeffrey. Jeffrey and its variants are found as surnames, usually as a patronymic ending in -s (e.g., Jefferies, Jaffrays); The surname Jefferson is also a patronymic version of the given name. In Scotland, Jeffrey is most frequently found to be a surname.
Variations include Jeff, Jeffry, Jeffy, Jeffery, Jefferey, Jeffory, Jefrie, Geoff, Geoffrey, Jeffeory, Geffrey, Jefferson, and Jeffro.
Contents
People with the given name Jeffrey
Academia
Jeffrey Cole, American anthropologist
Jeffrey Garten (born 1946), American businessman and writer
Jeffrey Hackney (born 1941), British legal academic
Jeffrey A. Hoffman (born 1944), American astronaut
Jeffrey Kaplan (historian) (born 1954), American academic
Jeffrey Lagarias (born 1949), American mathematician
Jeffrey B. Remmel (1948–2017), American mathematician
Jeffrey Rosen (born 1964), American legal academic
Jeffrey Sachs (born 1954), American economist
Jeffrey L. Seglin (born 1956), American writer and teacher
Art
Jeffrey Rowbotham (1920–1984), Scottish architect
Jeffrey Cheung, American skateboarder and artist
Jeffrey Schiff, American artist
Jeffrey Steele (artist) (1931–2021), British abstract artist
Business
Jeffrey Cheah (born 1945), Malaysian entrepreneur
Jeffrey Hollender (born 1954), American entrepreneur
Jeffrey Katzenberg (born 1950), American film producer and media proprietor
Jeffrey Rosen, American billionaire businessman
Jeffrey Steinberger, American trial lawyer and founder of law firm, judge pro tem, adjunct law professor, TV legal analyst
Crime
Jeffrey Dahmer (1960–1994), American cannibalistic serial killer and sex offender
Jeffrey Dampier (1966–2005), American lottery winner who was murdered
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson (born 1962), Northern Irish sex offender and former politician
Jeffrey "Jeff" Doucet (1959–1984), American pedophile murdered by Gary Plauché
Jeffrey Epstein (1953–2019), American financier and convicted child sex offender
Jeffrey Russell Hall (1978–2011), American political extremist killed by his son
Jeffrey Lundgren (1950–2006), American cult leader and mass murderer
Jeffrey R. MacDonald (born 1943), American former physician convicted of killing his family
Entertainment
Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter (born 1946), Jamaican film and television actor
Jeffrey Ching (born 1965), British contemporary classical composer
Jeffrey Combs (born 1954), American character actor best known for his horror film roles
Jeffrey Daniel (born 1955), American singer and dancer with the soul group Shalamar
Jeffrey DeMunn (born 1947), American actor
Jeffrey Donovan (born 1968), American actor
Jeff Garcia (comedian) (1975–2025), American actor and stand-up comedian
Jeffrey Goldblum (born 1952), American film and television actor
Jeffrey Hunter (1926–1969), American film and television actor
Jeffrey Isbell (Izzy Stradlin) (born 1962), American musician
Jeffrey Jones (born 1946), American actor
Jeffrey Lau (born 1955), Hong Kong film director, screenwriter, actor and producer
Jeffrey Lewis (born 1975), American musician and comic artist
Jeffrey Lyons (born 1944), American television and film critic
Jeffrey Marsh (born 1976/1977), American writer, activist actor, artist and author
Literature
Jeffrey Archer (1940-2026), English author and former politician
Jeffrey Brown (cartoonist) (born 1975), American comic book writer and artist
Jeffrey Carver (1949–2026), American science fiction author
Jeffrey Daniels (author), African American poet, artist, and professor
Jeffrey Eugenides (born 1960), American novelist and writer
Jeffrey Ford (born 1955), American novelist and story writer
Jeffrey Kinney (born 1971), American author
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (born 1941), Sanskrit specialist
Jeffrey Rowland (born 1974), American webcomic artist
Jeffrey Simpson (born 1949), American-born Canadian journalist
Jeffrey S. Williams, American writer and Civil War historian
Military
Jeffrey Chessani (born 1963), former lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps
Jeffrey Feinstein (born 1945), former lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force
Jeffrey J. Schloesser, former major general in the U.S. Army
Jeffrey Trail (1969–1997), Gulf War veteran and lieutenant in the U.S. Navy
Jeffrey Williams (astronaut) (born 1958), former U.S. Army officer and astronaut
Sport
Jeffrey Bassa (born 2002), American football player
Jeffrey Buttle (born 1982), Canadian figure skater
Jeffrey Alan "Jac" Caglianone (born 2003), American baseball player
Jeffrey Carlson (1975–2023), American hockey player
Jeffrey de Lange (born 1998), Dutch footballer
Jeffrey Earnhardt (born 1989), American racing driver
Jeffrey Finley (born 1991), Canadian football player
Jeffrey Gunter (born 1999), American football player
Jeffrey Jordan (born 1988), US college basketball player
Jeffrey Lay (born 1969), Canadian rower
Jeffrey Lloyd (born 1961), horse racing jockey
Jeffrey M'Ba (born 1999), American football player
Jeffrey Overton Jr. (born 2007), American football player
Other
Jeffrey Brenner, American CEO
Jeffrey Chiquini (born 1990), Brazilian politician
Jeffrey R. Holland (1940–2025), American religious leader
Jeffrey Mtolo, South African politician
Jeffrey Siow (born 1978), Singaporean politician and former Second Permanent Secretary
Jeffrey Skiles, American airline pilot
Fictional characters
Jeffrey P. Brookes III, in the TV series The Ropers
Jeffrey Cross, a.k.a. OG Loc, in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004)
Jeffrey Dexter "Jeff" Boomhauer III, introduced in 1997 as a main character in the TV series King of the Hill
Jeffrey Goines, a main character in the film 12 Monkeys (1995)
Jeffrey Hoytsman, introduced in 2015 as a defense attorney in the TV series Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski, the title character in the film The Big Lebowski (1998)
Jeffrey Matthews a.k.a. Moondoggie, introduced in 1957 as a main character in the Gidget media franchise
Jeffrey Michener, introduced in 2015 as President of the United States in the TV series The Last Ship; see List of The Last Ship episodes
Jeffrey Sinclair, introduced in 1988 as the commander of the eponymous space station in the TV series Babylon 5
Jeffrey Sparkman, the titular character from the 2010 U.S. TV show Nurse Jeffrey, a spin-off of House, M.D.