Explore the Family Name Laffey

The meaning of Laffey

Irish: 1. shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Laithimh, from the earlier form Ó Flaithimh, from flaitheamh ‘ruler’. 2. variant of Leahy. Some characteristic forenames: Irish Brendan.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Laffey in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Laffey's popularity has seen a slight decrease in rank from 2000 to 2010, dropping from 18,034 to 18,347. However, the count of people with the Laffey surname increased by 5.89% during the same period, growing from 1,426 to 1,510. The proportion of individuals with this surname per 100k went down by 3.77%, moving from 0.53 to 0.51.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#18,034	#18,347	-1.74%
Count	1,426	1,510	5.89%
Proportion per 100k	0.53	0.51	-3.77%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Laffey

As for ethnicity, the data derived from the Decennial U.S. Census shows that the majority of people with the surname Laffey identify as White, making up 96.95% of the population in 2010, which is a slight decrease from 98.11% in the year 2000. People identifying with Hispanic ethnicity saw the most significant increase, jumping by 120.24% from 0.84% to 1.85%. There was also an increase in people who identify as two or more races, increasing by 31.43% from 0.35% to 0.46%. On the other hand, the number of people identifying as Black dropped to zero in 2010 from 0.35% in 2000. Moreover, there was a small presence of Asian/Pacific Islander in 2010 at 0.33%, whereas no one identified under this ethnic group in 2000. No data was recorded for American Indian and Alaskan Native in both years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	98.11%	96.95%	-1.18%
Hispanic	0.84%	1.85%	120.24%
Two or More Races	0.35%	0.46%	31.43%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0.33%	0%
Black	0.35%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%