Greef Surname

202,631st
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 2,055 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
South Africa
Highest density in:
South Africa

Greef Surname Definition:

Same as Grieve, Greive; from Anglo-Saxon gerefa (G. graf), a bailiff, a reeve.

Greef Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
South Africa1,0711:50,5866,423
Brazil2531:846,14430,541
Netherlands1691:99,92416,231
England1611:346,07525,095
Germany1511:533,14944,599
United States671:5,409,835270,257
Australia591:457,55435,515
Belgium391:294,78634,540
France321:2,075,710171,237
Canada171:2,167,388133,872
Estonia121:110,15019,471
Russia51:28,824,611530,332
Namibia31:803,13415,170
Scotland31:1,784,60641,943
Taiwan31:7,814,91541,694
United Arab Emirates21:4,581,13693,443
Indonesia11:132,249,194811,426
Haiti11:10,683,90724,607
New Zealand11:4,528,32355,372
Portugal11:10,418,24125,048
Saudi Arabia11:30,855,81763,028
Spain11:46,752,036156,870
Wales11:3,094,53244,023
Argentina11:42,743,414282,706
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England721:338,54721,815
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States331:1,521,77881,120

Greef (88) may also be a first name.

Greef Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

Same as Grieve, Greive; from Anglo-Saxon gerefa (G. graf), a bailiff, a reeve.

Ludus Patronymicus (1868) by Richard Stephen Charnock

From the Danish, Greiff; from the Dutch, Griev, Greve; from the Flemish, Greven; from the German, Grief; in the Domesday Book, Griffin; a personal name.

British Family Names: Their Origin and Meaning (1903) by Henry Barber

Greef Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name Greef Come From? nationality or country of origin

The last name Greef is more frequently found in South Africa than any other country/territory. It may occur as a variant:. For other potential spellings of this surname click here.

How Common Is The Last Name Greef? popularity and diffusion

The last name is the 202,631st most common surname throughout the world, held by around 1 in 3,546,251 people. This surname is predominantly found in Africa, where 52 percent of Greef are found; 52 percent are found in Southern Africa and 52 percent are found in South Bantu Africa. It is also the 1,017,994th most frequently occurring first name at a global level, borne by 88 people.

The surname Greef is most prevalent in South Africa, where it is carried by 1,071 people, or 1 in 50,586. In South Africa it is most frequent in: Gauteng, where 22 percent are found, Free State, where 17 percent are found and Northern Cape, where 16 percent are found. Apart from South Africa this surname is found in 23 countries. It is also common in Brazil, where 12 percent are found and The Netherlands, where 8 percent are found.

Greef Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The prevalency of Greef has changed through the years. In England the number of people who held the Greef last name rose 224 percent between 1881 and 2014 and in The United States it rose 203 percent between 1880 and 2014.

Greef Last Name Statistics demography

In The United States Greef are 31.39% more likely to be registered Democrats than The US average, with 84.62% registered to vote for the party.

The amount Greef earn in different countries varies greatly. In South Africa they earn 54.71% more than the national average, earning R 367,644 per year; in United States they earn 51.07% more than the national average, earning $65,184 USD per year and in Canada they earn 11.52% less than the national average, earning $43,960 CAD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

SurnameSimilarityWorldwide IncidencePrevalency
Greeff9111,904/
Greefs9190/
Greefe915/
Gref891,658/
Greif809,061/
Graef806,475/
Greff804,614/
Grefe801,933/
Grief801,499/
Greeb80376/
Greaf8071/
Greyf8048/
Greev8041/
Greft8038/
Greew8016/
Groef8014/
Ngref809/
Gretf802/
Gresf801/
Graeff735,491/
Greiff731,910/
Greffe731,088/
Ghreeb731,077/
Grieff73509/
Greife73399/
Greufe73235/
Groeff7399/
Greaff7344/
Grueff7322/
Greyeb7311/
Grefft739/
Greyff738/
Greeph734/
Greafe733/
Greyev731/
G'Reyf731/
Gretff731/
Greift731/
Ngreew731/
Hgreew731/
Graief730/
Greifs730/
Graehf730/
Gräf679,314/
Greb677,570/
Grew672,480/
Grif67524/
Grev67325/
Gryf6788/
Greiffe6718/
Grayeff6714/
Grajefe6713/
Groueff676/
Grefsås671/
Grefsch671/
Ngreejw671/
Greifeh671/
Greyeva671/
Grefová671/
Greaffe670/

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Footnotes

  • Surnames are taken as the first part of an person's inherited family name, caste, clan name or in some cases patronymic
  • Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
  • Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
  • Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
  • Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
  • Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
  • Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to Greef
  • To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on Family​Search, My​Heritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis