How rare is the name Jay?

164,097 people in the United States have the first name Jay, about 1 in 1,841. It ranks #339 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

JAY

#339

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
164,097
About
1 in 1,841
This common or more
51.2%
Who bears it

Of the 164,097 people named Jay, 74.6% reported their origin as White, 8.8% as Asian or Pacific Islander and 6.6% as Hispanic or Latino. 97.7% are male. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Jay peaked in 1960, when 5,429 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1960
Births that year
5,429
In 2025*
818 ▼85%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 198,132 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Jay by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1960s, when it ranked #184. The largest share of babies named Jay, 36.4%, were born during the baby boom (1946–1964).

1880s#3171,016
1890s#451923
1900s#535942
1910s#4434,605
1920s#4018,295
1930s#33110,444
1940s#27818,968
1950s#21137,435
1960s#18443,092
1970s#25024,253
1980s#34416,014
1990s#52610,794
2000s#7418,242
2010s#7827,997
2020s#7575,112
Before 19011%
Greatest Generation 1901–276.1%
Silent Generation 1928–4510.9%
Baby boom 1946–6436.4%
Generation X 1965–8022.3%
Millennials 1981–9611.2%
Generation Z 1997–126.6%
2013 and later5.5%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Jay is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Jay has been most common in Utah (2.4×), Idaho (2.3×), and North Dakota (2.1×), and least common in Mississippi (0.45×).

190,791 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Jay

#337 Renee · 164,460#338 Anita · 164,324#340 Claire · 163,948#341 Bobby · 163,860

Spelled almost the same

6 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Jay, most common first.

#2,562 Jae · 9,440#3,209 Jai · 6,708#3,806 Jaya · 5,196#5,377 Jaye · 3,205#7,912 Ja · 1,870#22,241 Jah · 449

Also a last name

As a last name, Jay ranks #3,393 of 156,621, with 10,302 people. See Jay as a last name

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