Jay
Jay is ranked 396th among boys in 2024 (819 births). Its best rank was 78th, in 1960.
- Rank in 2024
- #396down 15 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 8190.05% of boys
- Peak year
- 19605,383 births
- Best rank
- #78in 1960
- Since 1880
- 197,300people given the name
The story in the numbers
194,725 boys have been named Jay in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1960, with 5,383 births — 0.25% of all boys recorded that year.
It is holding steady: its share of births has moved by less than half in either direction over ten years (rank 371 → 396).
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1963, and the 1960s alone account for 22%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 16 of them in the top 100.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 2,575 girls have also been given it, 1.3% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Jay | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 1,016 | |
| 1890s | 918 | |
| 1900s | 926 | |
| 1910s | 4,455 | |
| 1920s | 8,054 | |
| 1930s | 10,217 | |
| 1940s | 18,656 | |
| 1950s | 36,969 | |
| 1960s | 42,712 | |
| 1970s | 23,972 | |
| 1980s | 15,840 | |
| 1990s | 10,683 | |
| 2000s | 8,167 | |
| 2010s | 7,918 | |
| 2020s | 4,222 |
In 1960, its biggest year
Jay was the 78th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1960 were David, Michael, James, John and Robert. See all of 1960.
Names that rose and fell with Jay
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Kirbypeak 1957
- Danialpeak 1957
- Carypeak 1957
- Karlpeak 1960
- Curtispeak 1962
- Davidpeak 1955
- Nealpeak 1959
- Peterpeak 1957
Other spellings in the data
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.