Geoffrey (given name)

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Geoffrey Given Name
Gender	Male
Meaning	"God's Peace"
Origin	English
Related names	Jeffrey, Geoff, Jeff
Wikipedia articles	All pages beginning with Geoffrey

"Geoffrey"^[1] is the older, British English spelling of the American English "Jeffrey",^[2] abbreviated as "Geoff"^[3] or "Jeff".^[4] Geoffrey originated from an Old French form of a Germanic name. Although the name's second element is "frid", meaning "peace", the first element of the name is disputed. Possible words that it originated from include "gawia" ("territory"), "walah" ("stranger"), "gisil" ("hostage") or "god". It is considered possible that more than one of these words were used as elements of the same name. If "god" was among them, "Geoffrey" would likely be related to the name "Godfrey".^[5] Medieval variants on "Geoffrey" include "Jeffrey"^[6] and "Jeffery". This form is still common in the United States, but is little known elsewhere. Jeffrey is sometimes spelled with one f as in Jefrey. Jeffrey and its variants are found as surnames, usually as a patronymic ending in -s (e.g., Jefferies, Jaffrays).

The variations of the name include Jeff, Jeffery, Geoff, Geoffrey, Jaffray, and Jefferson.

The name was introduced to England by the Normans after William the Conqueror's conquest of England in 1066. It was particularly popular among English nobility.

In television and film:

• Geoffrey Beevers, British actor who has appeared in many different television roles
• Geoff Dolan, New Zealand actor, singer and corporate entertainer
• Geoffrey Hayes, English television presenter and actor
• Geoffrey Lewis, American character actor who has been popular since the early 1970s
• Geoff Morrell, Australian film and theatre actor
• Geoff Murphy, New Zealand film director, writer and assistant director
• Geoffrey Rush, Australian Academy Award and Emmy Award winning actor
• Geoff Thompson, writer, film director and self-defence expert
• Geoffrey Wright, Australian film director born in Melbourne in 1959
• Jeffrey Combs, American character actor best known for his horror film roles
• Jeffrey Hunter, film and television actor
• Jeffrey Nordling, American actor
• Jeffrey Tambor, American actor
• Jeff Anderson, an American actor who appeared as Randal Graves in Kevin Smith's Clerks series
• Jeff Bridges, an American actor
• Jeff Chandler (actor), a 1950s American film actor
• Jeff Cohen, child actor who appeared as Chunk in the 1985 movie The Goonies
• Jeff Conaway, American actor
• Jeff Daniels, an American actor
• Jeff Dunham, an American ventriloquist
• Jeff East, American actor, appeared in Superman as the young Clark Kent
• Jeff Foxworthy, an American comedian and actor
• Jeff Garlin, an American comedic actor
• Jeff Goldblum, an American film actor
• Jeff Hyslop, Canadian television and theatre actor
• Jeff Maxwell, American actor (Igor from M.A.S.H.)
• Jeff McCarthy, American character actor who has appeared in television, theatre and films
• Jeff Probst, American television personality
• Jeff Thisted, American game show host
• Jeff Yagher, American actor

In sports:

• 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
• Geoffrey Boycott, former England cricketer
• Geoff Capes, former British shot put champion and two-time World's Strongest Man winner
• Geoff Howarth, New Zealand cricketer
• Geoff Hurst, the only footballer who ever scored a hat-trick in a World Cup final
• Geoff Jenkins, outfielder in Major League Baseball
• Geoff Rowley, professional skateboarder
• Geoff Ogilvy, Australian golfer, winner of the 2006 US Open.
• Geoff Sanderson, forward in the National Hockey League
• Geoff Horsfield, English football player
• Jeff Bagwell, a baseball player
• Jeff Bes, a Canadian ice hockey player
• Jeff Burton, a NASCAR racer
• Jeff Chandler (boxer), a boxing champion
• Jeff Conine, a pro baseball player
• Jeff Elliott, a British decathlete and pole vaulter
• Jeff Fenech, a boxer
• Jeff Francis, a baseball player
• Jeff Francoeur, a baseball player
• Jeff Garcia, a football player
• Jeff Gordon, a NASCAR racer
• Jeff Guiel, a Canadian baseball player
• Jeff Hardy, a professional wrestler
• Jeff Jarrett, an American professional wrestler
• Jeff Kent, a baseball player
• Jeff Otis, an American football player
• Jeff Schiebler, a Canadian long-distance runner
• Jeff Speakman, American actor and accomplished martial artist in the art of kempo
• Jeff Stork, an American volleyball player
• Jeff Thomson, an Australian cricketer
• Jeff Van Gundy, a US NBA coach
• Jeff Williams, Australian-born, left-handed pitcher for the Hanshin Tigers baseball team

In literature:

• Geoffrey Chaucer, English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat, and diplomat
• Geoff Johns, American writer of comic books
• Jeffrey Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare, English author and former politician
• Jeffrey Carver, American science fiction author
• Jeffrey Daniels (author), Chicago-raised African American poet, artist, and professor
• Jeffrey Eugenides, American novelist and short story writer of Greek and Irish origins
• Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, Sanskrit specialist and author who trained as a psychoanalyst in Toronto
• Jeffrey Rowland, a webcomic artist
• Jeffrey Shaara, American novelist
• Jeffrey Simpson, The Globe and Mail's national affairs columnist
• Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com
• Jeff Noon, a novelist, short story writer and playwright
• Jeff VanderMeer, an American writer

In music:

• Geoff Barrow, producer/instrumentalist for the band, Portishead
• Geoff Berner, Canadian singer-songwriter on the accordion
• Geoff Downes, Keyboard player known for his work with The Buggles, Yes and Asia
• Geoff Emerick, a recording studio audio engineer, who is best known for his work with the Beatles
• Geoff Nicholls, former keyboard player for Black Sabbath
• Geoff Rickly, the lead singer and lyricist of the Post-Hardcore band Thursday
• Geoff Tate, The lead singer for hard rock band Queensryche
• DJ Jazzy Jeff, an American DJ/turntablist record producer
• Jeff Beck, an electric guitarist
• Jeff Buckley, an American singer-songwriter
• Jeff Graham, a Canadian Radio DJ
• Jeff Hanneman, guitarist for U.S. thrash metal band Slayer
• Jeff Healey, a Canadian blues-rock guitarist
• Jeff Loomis, lead guitarist for heavy metal band Nevermore
• Jeff Lynne, a British singer-songwriter and record producer
• Jeff Mangum, an American singer-songwriter and founder of Neutral Milk Hotel
• Jeff Porcaro, highly regarded session drummer and founding member of Toto
• Jeff Tweedy, an American singer-songwriter and founding member of Wilco

In politics

• Jeff Bingaman, the junior U.S. Senator from New Mexico
• Jeff Flake, a U.S. Representative from Arizona
• Jeff Kennett, former Premier of Victoria, Australia
• Jeff Seemann, a United States Democratic candidate in Ohio for Congress
• Jeff Sessions, the junior U.S. Senator from Alabama

In history:

• Geoffrey Rudolph Elton, pre-eminent British historian of the Tudor period

In military:

• Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, officer in the British Army
• Jeffrey R. MacDonald, former member of the elite military unit

In other fields:

• Geoffrey Beene (1927–2004), American fashion designer
• Geoff Dixon, Australian corporate executive and current CEO and Managing Director of Qanta
• Geoff Lloyd, British radio DJ
• Jeffrey Buttle, Canadian figure skater
• Jeffrey Daniel, singer and dancer with the soul group Shalamar
• Jeffrey Dahmer, notorious American serial killer, necrophile and cannibal
• Jeffrey Zitsman, American surgeon at Columbia University
• Jeff Cooper (colonel), a former United States Marine and firearms expert
• Jeff Luers, an American anarchist, environmental activist, and arsonist
• Jeff Nuttall, a British 1960s counter-culture figure
• Wing Commander Jeffrey Cat, one of the heroes of the Korean War
• Jeff Hawkins, founder of Palm Computing and Handspring
• Jeff Minter, a British computer and video game designer and programmer
• Jeff K., fictional character created by Richard Kyanka
• Jeff Albertson, a character from The Simpsons, more commonly known as Comic Book Guy.
• Jeff Murdoch, a character in the first three seasons of the sitcom Coupling
• Jeff Reinhart, a character in the Saw movie series

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