The Duff surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 16,536 people carried this name — #2,202 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 17,800 people counted. That is up 3% from 16,119 in 2000.

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What the name means

The meaning of the Duff surname

From the Irish and Scottish Gaelic surname, from dubh (“dark”).

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Duff» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.

In Ireland’s birth registers, 1890

Ireland registered 45 births for the Duff name in 1890.

They were registered in all four provinces, most of all in Leinster. By the Registrar-General’s own method — births multiplied by 44.38 — that is about 2,000 people bearing the name in Ireland at the time. 4 of them were indexed under other spellings of the name. The Registrar-General’s note on the name: “Antrim, Dublin, and Louth.”

Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.

Where they were born, 1890

Leinster 21
Ulster 21
Connacht 2
Munster 1

Registrar-General for Ireland, «Special Report on Surnames in Ireland» (R. E. Matheson, 1894), births index of 1890 — public domain.

In Switzerland’s population statistics

229 people named Duff live in Switzerland.

They live in 9 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Graubünden.

Where it concentrates, on the map

Where they live today

Graubünden 108
Zurich 57
Aargau 18
St. Gallen 16
Bern 10
Lucerne 7
Thurgau 6
Basel-Landschaft 4

Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), «Surnames of the permanent resident population by canton», 2025, opendata.swiss/en/dataset/nachnamen-der-standigen-wohnbevolkerung-nach-kanton3 · names with fewer than 3 bearers in a canton are not published.

In Argentina’s national register

At least 32 people named Duff live in Argentina.

RENAPER only publishes a name in a province when more than ten people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Buenos Aires Province.

Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.

Where they live today

Buenos Aires Province 32

RENAPER (National Registry of Persons, Argentina), surnames of residents by province, December 2021 — CC BY 4.0.

In France’s civil register

France’s register of deaths holds 26 people named Duff.

Most of them — 19 — were born outside France. Those born in France came from 2 départements, most often Finistère.

Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.

Where they were born

Born outside France 19
Finistère 5
Nord 2

Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.

In Scotland, 1880s

Duff was 15 in every 10,000 names in Scotland.

That is about 1 in 667. Its home there, in Guppy’s words: “Fairly general, but most numerous in Perthshire.” He counted the more than 20,000 names in Halliburton’s County Directory of Scotland, taking Scotland as a whole, and listed only the names that reached 10 in every 10,000.

H. B. Guppy, «Homes of Family Names in Great Britain» (London, 1890), appendix: alphabetical list of the most frequent Scottish names, p. 588 — public domain · names in Halliburton’s County Directory of Scotland, per 10,000 for the whole country.

In Scotland’s registers today

Duff was recorded 105 times in Scotland’s registers of births, marriages and deaths in 2025.

That made it the 238th most common name in those registers, shared with others on the same count. In 1975, the first year of the series, the count was 198. Each birth counts the child’s surname, each marriage both partners’ and each death the surname of the person who died — a yearly count of registrations, not of the people who live in Scotland.

National Records of Scotland, «Most Common Surnames, 2025» (published 26 May 2026): every surname recorded 10 or more times in the 2025 registers, and the series from 1975 · different spellings are counted separately — © Crown copyright 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

In the first U.S. census, 1790

25 Duff families were counted in 1790.

Each family is counted by its head. About 119 people lived in those households, 4.8 to a family on average. The table lists white heads of families only, in the twelve states whose 1790 records survive; Virginia’s figures come from state lists of 1782–1785.

Families, by state

Pennsylvania 14
Virginia 3
South Carolina 3
North Carolina 2
Massachusetts 1
New York 1
Maryland 1

U.S. Census Bureau, «A Century of Population Growth from the First Census of the United States to the Twelfth, 1790–1900» (Washington, 1909), table 111, p. 238 — public domain · names carried by at least 100 white persons in 1790.

In print

Duff in American newspapers,
1910.

Newspaper page from East Mississippi Times carrying the name Duff
East Mississippi Times 1910-12-03
Newspaper page from The Hattiesburg News carrying the name Duff
The Hattiesburg News 1910-12-02
Newspaper page from St. Tammany Farmer carrying the name Duff
St. Tammany Farmer 1910-12-10

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 4,020 pages in all carry the name.

In print

Duff in Australian newspapers,
1810s–2000s.

75,892 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Duff. The most, 15,540, date from the 1930s. New South Wales has the most articles, but weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, the name stands out most in Western Australia, at 1.5 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

New South Wales 26,609
Victoria 14,909
Queensland 12,533
Western Australia 10,141
Tasmania 6,289
South Australia 4,789
ACT (Canberra) 453
Northern Territory 48

Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Duff.

Who carried it

People named Duff,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Mike Duff d. 1977 · basketball player
  • unknown daughter Duff d. 1946
  • Anne Duff d. 1898
  • Elizabeth Dunlop d. 1944
  • Mary Susan Smith d. 1915
  • Evelina Constance Pratt d. 1898

Wikidata (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Duff,
in the records of 9 countries.

Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.

United States2,903 records

2,903 records of the Duff name in the United States
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 852
  • Passenger arrivals in the United States, 1820–1912 623
  • Other U.S. records 1,428
  1. Names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
    Example: U.S. war memorial
    War record Barry William Duff

    Born 1945; from Baltimore, Maryland. U.S. Marine Corps, rifleman; killed in action 1966 in Quang Nam, South Vietnam. Buried at Baltimore National Cemetery, Maryland.

    U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  2. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record Charles A. Duff

    Born 1915 in Virginia. Enlisted 1942 at Fort Jay Governors Island, New York; janitor. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1985, buried at Mountain Home National Cemetery, Tennessee.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  3. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Ann Duff

    Arrived at New York in 1892 aboard the Germanic from Liverpool and Queenstown, aged 45; dealer. From Queenstown, Ireland; bound for New York.

    U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)

Showing 3 of 2,903 records for Duff in the United States.

Counts: NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · U.S. National Archives, Famine Irish Passenger Records (public domain) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · Sacramento County, Historic Burials (CC BY 4.0) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Vietnam Veterans Memorial, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, 2009 (public domain); U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain).

Australia1,903 records

1,903 records of the Duff name in Australia
  • Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 976
  • Tasmanian Names Index 314
  • Other Australian records 613
  1. An 1829 etching of convicts being rowed out to the prison ship York in Portsmouth Harbour
    Pictured: convicts going on board a prison ship, 1829
    Transportation record Peter Duff

    Transported to Van Diemen's Land aboard the Woodman, sailing from London in 1825. Native of Edinburgh, Midlothian. Applied for permission to marry in Van Diemen's Land in 1836.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A petition to the probate court of St. Louis, 1848
    Example: probate petition, 1848
    Probate record Charles Duff

    Died 1925 in Parattah, Tasmania. Will registered in Tasmania in 1925.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Andrew Duff

    Arrived in Victoria in 1853 aboard the Ganges Khan, aged 2; Scottish.

    Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 1,903 records for Duff in Australia.

Counts: Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) · Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) · Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0) · Museums of History NSW – State Archives Collection (CC BY) · State Library of Western Australia (CC BY 4.0) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · ACT Government, Transport Canberra and City Services (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Prison-ship in Portsmouth Harbour, with the convicts going on board, etching by Edward William Cooke, 1829, Royal Museums Greenwich (public domain); Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain).

Canada348 records

348 records of the Duff name in Canada
  • Nova Scotia Archives name indexes 216
  • Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver 39
  • Other Canadian records 93
  1. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record John Duff

    Came to Ontario in 1871 aboard the St. David, landing at Quebec, bound for St. Catharines, Ontario; Irish.

    Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario.
  2. Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Example: Canadian cemetery
    Burial record William Henderson Duff

    Buried in 1942 at St. Vital Cemetery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, aged 78.

    City of Winnipeg. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Winnipeg.
  3. Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Example: Canadian cemetery
    Burial record Gladys V. Duff

    Buried in 1983 at Mount Hermon Cemetery, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, aged 88.

    Halifax Regional Municipality. Contains information licenced under the Open Government Licence—Halifax.

Showing 3 of 348 records for Duff in Canada.

Counts: Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia. · City of Vancouver. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver. · Veterans Affairs Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada. · City of Winnipeg. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Winnipeg. · City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · Halifax Regional Municipality. Contains information licenced under the Open Government Licence—Halifax. · Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario. · City of Niagara Falls. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Niagara Falls. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, photo by Edgar El (CC BY 3.0).

United Kingdom168 records

168 records of the Duff name in the United Kingdom
  • Stirling Council burial records 86
  • War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 35
  • Other British records 47
  1. A First World War roll of honour of the staff of C. & E. Morton Ltd
    Example: roll of honour, 1914–1919
    War record John Duff

    Born 1882 at Miltonduff; male nurse. Served in the First World War. Named in the Morayshire roll of honour (1921).

    National Library of Scotland, Rolls of Honour (public domain)
  2. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Jane Duff

    Buried in 1943 at Mar Place Cemetery, Stirling, Scotland, aged 78.

    Stirling Council. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
  3. A petition to the probate court of St. Louis, 1848
    Example: probate petition, 1848
    Probate record George Joseph William Duff

    Will proved in 1923; of Liverpool, Lancashire.

    National Library of Wales, Wills Index Cards (CC0)

Showing 3 of 168 records for Duff in the United Kingdom.

Counts: Stirling Council. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · National Library of Scotland, Rolls of Honour (public domain) · MOLA and HS2, St James's burial ground data. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. · National Library of Wales, Wills Index Cards (CC0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: C. & E. Morton Ltd roll of honour, 1914–1919, photo by Adrian S Pye via Geograph (CC BY-SA 2.0); Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0); Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain).

New Zealand36 records

36 records of the Duff name in New Zealand
  • Christchurch City cemetery records 31
  • Marlborough District cemetery records 4
  • War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 1
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Annie Duff

    Died 1910, aged 39; buried at Lyttelton Public Cemetery, Christchurch, Canterbury.

    Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record David Charles Duff

    Died 1989, aged 19; buried at Fairhall Cemetery, Marlborough.

    Marlborough District Council (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A page of the Livre d’or of the French war dead, Paris
    Example: roll of the war dead
    War record G. Duff

    New Zealand Field Artillery. Listed among the dead in the War Office casualty list of 1918.

    National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain)

Showing 3 of 36 records for Duff in New Zealand.

Counts: Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0) · Marlborough District Council (CC BY 4.0) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0); Livre d’or of the war dead, Paris, Ministère des pensions, Archives nationales (CC0).

Netherlands11 records

11 records of the Duff name in the Netherlands
  • Dutch church registers before 1811 7
  • Dutch population registers 2
  • Dutch civil registers (births, marriages, deaths) 2
  1. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record Isabella Duff

    Married in 1872 in Alblasserdam.

    Open Archives, Regionaal Archief Rivierenland (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record Jan Duff

    Married in 1629 in Alkmaar.

    Open Archives, Regionaal Archief Alkmaar (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 2 of 11 records for Duff in the Netherlands.

Counts: Open Archives (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Marriage register, Tilburg, 1911, Regionaal Archief Tilburg (public domain).

France9 records

9 records of the Duff name in France France's national death register, 1970–2001
  1. A page of the death register of Nice, 1930
    Example: French death register, 1930
    Death record Edward Charles Duff

    Born 1920 in the United States; died 2000 in Paris.

    Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte)
  2. A page of the death register of Nice, 1930
    Example: French death register, 1930
    Death record Marie Francoise Duff

    Born 1897 in Tréflaouénan; died 1971 in Tréflaouénan (Finistère).

    Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte)

Showing 2 of 9 records for Duff in France.

Counts: Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Death register of Nice, 1930, Archives départementales des Alpes-Maritimes (public domain).

Belgium1 record

1 record of the Duff name in Belgium Belgian civil registers (births, marriages, deaths)
  1. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Death record Jacoba Duff

    Died 1891 in Kortijk.

    Open Archives, Stadsarchief Kortrijk (CC BY 4.0)

Counts: Open Archives (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).

Germany1 record

1 record of the Duff name in Germany Germany's First World War casualty lists, 1914–1919
  1. A page of the German First World War casualty lists, 18 April 1918
    Example: German casualty list, 1918
    Casualty list Konrad Duff

    From Strehlen. Reported wounded in the Prussian casualty list of 29 October 1918.

    Verein für Computergenealogie e.V. (2026). Deutsche Verlustlisten des Ersten Weltkriegs – Datensammlung (Version 1.0), DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18330751 (CC0)

Counts: Verein für Computergenealogie e.V. (2026). Deutsche Verlustlisten des Ersten Weltkriegs – Datensammlung (Version 1.0), DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18330751 (CC0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Deutsche Verlustlisten, Prussian list 1116, 18 April 1918 (scan via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Duff.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Duff is.
A volume says what happened to it.

Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.

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