Geoffrey (name)

Geoffrey
	Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou
Pronunciation	/ˈdʒɛfri/ JEF-ree
Gender	male
Origin
Region of origin	Francia, medieval France, Norman England
Other names
Derived	Godfried, Gottfried, Godfrey
Related names	Jeffrey, Geoff, Jeff

Geoffrey is an English and French masculine given name. It is generally considered the Anglo-Norman form of the Germanic compound *gudą 'god' and *friþuz 'peace'.^[1] It is a cognate of Dutch Godfried, German Gottfried and Old English and .

Alexander MacBain considered it as being found in the Gaelic and Welsh forms; potentially before or contemporary to the Anglo-Saxon, with the examples of Goraidh, Middle Gaelic (1467 MS.), Godfrey (do.), Irish Gofraidh (F.M.), Middle Irish Gothfrith, (Tigernach, 989), Early Irish (Lib. Lein.), E. Welsh (Ann. Camb.). Macbain suggested these Celtic forms of the name were closer related to the Anglo-Saxon than the Norse , Gudrød or ; however he does not elaborate further on the origin or relation.

The form as 'Geoffrey' was probably introduced to Norman England^{[citation needed]}.

It was also Anglicised as Jeffrey later after the name became more popular after the likes of President Jefferson. Popularity of the name declined after the medieval period, but it was revived in modern England and the British Empire at large. Modern hypocorisms include Geoff or Jeff.

Jeffrey and its variants are found as surnames, usually ending in -s (e.g. Jefferies, Jaffrays); The surname Jefferson is also a patronymic version of the given name.

Etymology[]

The Old French form of the name was Geoffrei ([dʒɔfrej]), which developed into West Middle French Geoffrey and East Middle French Geoffroy.

Latinised forms include Jotfredus, Jozsfredus, Josfredus (10th century) and Jof[f]redus, Jofridus, Jaufredus, Geffredus (11th century).^[2]

The original spelling with Jo- was modified in Geo-. The graphic e after G is used in French to avoid the pronunciation [go], but [ʒɔ] instead. The spelling Geo- is probably due to the influence of the first name Georges, derived from Old French Jorre, Joire.

The Old Frankish name Godefrid itself is from the Germanic elements god- and frid-. The Middle Latin form is Godefridus (whence also Godfrey). The second element is widely used in Germanic names, and has a meaning of "peace, protection". The first element god- is conflated from two, or possibly three, distinct roots, ie got and possibly *gaut, in origin a tribal name (Geats, Goths) or a theonym (a byname of Wotan).^[3]

Albert Dauzat (1951, rev. ed. 1980) followed by others, argued that the Middle French name Geoffrey in fact retains a distinction between two Germanic names which became conflated in the Middle Ages. According to this argument, Godfrey continues *goda-friþu-, while Geoffroy continues *gaut-friþu-.^[4] If a strictly phonetic development is assumed, Geoffrey cannot be derived from Godfrid, as *go- would result in Old French go- ([gɔ]) and not geo- (jo-, [dʒɔ]), ie goda-fridu would yield Godefroy [godfrwa] but not Geoffroy. On the other hand, *gau- [gaw] would regularly result in jo- (geo- [dʒɔ]),^[5] i.e *gaut-fridu- would regularly result in Geoffroy [dʒɔf:rwa].

Alternative suggestions which would derive the first element from Germanic gisal- 'hostage', or w(e)alah 'Gallo-Roman; stranger' are also rejected by Dauzat as phonetically impossible: gi would have resulted in Old French [dʒi] (Modern French [ʒi]), as in Gisalbert > Gilbert (ie *Gisalfrid > *Giffrey), and *w(e)alh- would have resulted in *gaul- [gol] (ie *Wealhfrid > *Gaulfrey, *Gauffrey).

List of people called Geoffrey[]

In television and film[]

Geoff Dolan, New Zealand actor, singer and corporate entertainer
Geoff Edwards, American actor and game-show host
Geoff Harvey, Australian musician and television personality
Geoffrey Hayes, English television presenter and actor
Geoffrey Holder, Trinidadian-American actor
Geoffrey Lewis, American actor
Geoff Morrell, Australian actor
Geoff Murphy, New Zealand film director, writer and assistant director
Geoffrey Palmer, English actor
Geoffrey Perkins, British radio and television producer
Geoff Peterson, robotic sidekick on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Geoffrey Rush, Australian actor
Geoff Thompson, British writer, film director and self-defence expert
Geoffrey Wright, Australian film director

In sports[]

Geoff Abrams, American tennis player
Geoffrey Edward Beck (1918–2019), English cricketer and minister
Geoff Bent, one of the eight Manchester United players that lost their lives in the Munich air disaster
Geoff Blum, infielder in Major League Baseball
Geoff Bodine, NASCAR driver
Geoff Boss, ChampCar and IMSA driver
Geoffrey Boycott, former England cricketer
Geoff Capes, former British shot put champion and two-time World's Strongest Man winner
Geoff Collins, Head Football (American) Coach at Georgia Tech
Geoffrey Gray (born 1997), American-Israeli professional basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
Geoff Grover, Australian Rules Footballer with St Kilda and Port Melbourne
Geoff Horsfield, English football player
Geoff Howarth, New Zealand cricketer
Geoff Hudson, English footballer
Geoff Hunt, Australian squash player, ranked the World No.1 squash player from 1975 to 1980
Geoff Hurst, the only footballer to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final
Geoff Jenkins, outfielder in Major League Baseball
Geoff Ogilvy, Australian golfer, winner of the 2006 US Open
Geoff Roes, ultra-runner, Western States 100 Endurance Run record holder
Geoff Rowley, professional skateboarder
Geoff Sanderson, forward in the National Hockey League
Geoff Schwartz, American NFL football player (Carolina Panthers)
Geoff Toovey, Rugby League Coach for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

In literature[]

Geoffrey Chaucer, English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat, and diplomat
Geoffrey Household (1900–1988), British writer
Geoff Johns, American writer of comic books
Geoffrey Moorhouse (1931–2009), British writer

In music[]

Geoff Barrow, producer/instrumentalist for the band, Portishead
Geoffrey Arnold Beck, is an English rock guitarist who played with The Yardbirds
Geoff Berner, Canadian singer-songwriter on the accordion
Geoffrey Burgon, English composer
Geoff Downes, keyboard player known for his work with The Buggles, Yes and Asia
Geoff Emerick, recording studio audio engineer, who is best known for his work with the Beatles
Geoffrey Gordon, American composer
Geoff Nicholls, former keyboard player for Black Sabbath
Geoff Richardson, multi-instrumentalist for Caravan
Geoff Rickly, lead singer and lyricist of the Post-Hardcore band Thursday
Geoff Stone, percussionist for Drastic Fall
Geoff Tate, American rock singer, former member of the band Queensryche
Geoff Wigington, guitarist for pop punk band Waterparks

In politics[]

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, British Conservative Party politician
Geoffrey Cox, British Conservative politician
Geoffrey Dickens, British Conservative politician
Geoffrey Howe, British Conservative politician and former Deputy Prime Minister

In history[]

Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany, son of King Henry II of England and brother of King Richard and King John
Geoffrey (archbishop of York), illegitimate son of King Henry II of England, Bishop of Lincoln and Archbishop of York
Geoffrey (Dean of Lincoln), 12th-century English Roman Catholic priest
Geoffrey of Monmouth, Welsh cleric and chronicler
Geoffrey Norman Blainey, Australian historian and political commentator
Gioffre Borgia, Prince of Squillace, illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI and brother of Lucrezia Borgia, Cesare Borgia and Giovanni Borgia
Geoffrey Rudolph Elton, British historian of the Tudor period
Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, Duke of Normandy, founder of the House of Plantagenet

In other fields[]

Geoffrey Beene (1927–2004), American fashion designer, born Samuel Albert Bozeman, Jr
Geoff Dixon, Australian corporate executive
Geoffrey Evans (1940-2012) English-born Irish serial killer
Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr., American law professor
Geoffrey Hinton, British computer scientist
Geoffrey Langlands (1917–2019), British Army officer and educator
Geoffroy Lejeune (born 1988), French journalist
Geoff Lloyd, British radio DJ
Geoffrey Ma, Chief Justice of Hong Kong
Geoffrey Massey (1924–2020), Canadian architect and urban planner
Geoff Morrell, American journalist and public affairs official
Geoffrey Pleyers, Belgian sociologist and researcher
Geoff Ramsey, American voice actor and film producer
Geoffrey Russom, American philologist
Geoffrey See, entrepreneur and startup ecosystem builder in North Korea

References[]

^ [1]
^ Louis Guinet, Les emprunts gallo-romans au germanique (du Ier siècle à la fin du Ve siècle), Éditions Klincksieck, 1982.
^ Ernst Förstemann, Altdeutsches Namenbuch (1856), 533.
^ Albert Dauzat, Noms et prénoms de France, édition revue et commentée par Marie-Thérèse Morlet, Librairie Larousse 1980, pp. 287b - 288a - 296ab.
^ for example, Late Latin *gauta gave Old French jöe and Modern French joue "cheek", and Latin gaudia gave French joie "joy". . In the history of the French language, there is a regular palatalisation of [g] > [dʒ] > [ʒ], before [a], [ɛ], [e], [i], but not before [o], [u], where [g] was maintained.

This page or section lists people that share the same given name.
If an led you here, you may wish to change that link to point directly to the intended article.

[1] [1]

[2] Louis Guinet, Les emprunts gallo-romans au germanique (du Ier siècle à la fin du Ve siècle), Éditions Klincksieck, 1982.

[3] Ernst Förstemann, Altdeutsches Namenbuch (1856), 533.

[4] Albert Dauzat, Noms et prénoms de France, édition revue et commentée par Marie-Thérèse Morlet, Librairie Larousse 1980, pp. 287b - 288a - 296ab.

[5] r example, Late Latin *gauta gave Old French jöe and Modern French joue "cheek", and Latin gaudia gave French joie "joy". . In the history of the French language, there is a regular palatalisation of [g] > [dʒ] > [ʒ], before [a], [ɛ], [e], [i], but not before [o], [u], where [g] was maintained.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]