Duffey
An Irish and English surname that likely comes from a Norman place-name, though some bearers may connect to Gaelic Duffy-type forms.
The #5,562 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 49,391 Americans shares it.
Etymology
19th-century surname writers usually treated Duffey as a locational name from D'Auffay, a small place in Normandy near Dieppe and Rouen. That would make it a surname originally meaning someone from that village. In practice, the modern spelling Duffey has also been influenced by the much more common Irish surname Duffy, so the name may have more than one line of origin.
History
The name appears in English-language surname references chiefly as a variant beside Duffie, Duffett, and Duffy. In the British Isles, some families with this spelling may descend from Norman settlers, while others were likely folded into or reshaped from Irish Duffy forms over time. The spelling Duffey is especially common in the United States today, where immigrant spellings often stabilized in different ways.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lower’s 1860 dictionary specifically connects Duffey to D'Auffay, a real place in Normandy rather than a personal name.
From the historical record
“DUFFELL. See DutReld. DUFFEY. Probably D'Auffay, a small tOAvn in Normandy, on the Diej^pe and Rouen raihvaj^ In H.R. Dofi. DUFFIE. Scotch. A soft, silly fellow. Jamieson. DUFFIELD. A parish in co. Derby, and tAvo toAvnships in Yorkshire. DUFFUS. A parish on the coast of jMorayshire, Scotland. The name may,”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom