Jay Boy
How popular is Jay?
#392 boy name in 2025
809 baby boys were named Jay in the US in 2025, making it the 392nd most popular boy name. Another 9 girls got the name (#10,104 for girls).
Jay popularity over time
Boys Girls
| Rank in 2025 | #392 for boys (▲ 4 from 2024) |
|---|---|
| Babies in 2025 | 809 boys, 9 girls |
| 10-year trend | Steady (+0% babies vs 2015) |
| Earlier ranks | #393 in 2015, #380 in 2020 |
| Peak year | 1960 (5,385 boys) |
| Highest rank | #78 in 1960 |
| First recorded | 1880 |
| Boys vs girls (last 10 years) | 99% boys, 1% girls |
| Chance a classmate shares it | 0.6% in a class of 25 kids born in 2025 |
Jay counting every spelling
Social Security counts each spelling as its own name. Adding together the spellings that sound alike, the Jay family of names ranked #338 for boys in 2025 (#332 the year before), with 972 babies in all.
| Spelling | Boys in 2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Jay | 809 | 83% |
| Jai | 122 | 13% |
| Jah | 35 | 4% |
| Ja | 6 | 1% |
Spellings are grouped by how they sound, using our own rules, so a few groupings may not match how your family says the name.
Where Jay is most popular
Babies named Jay per 1,000 boys born in each state, 2021 to 2025. Darker means more common.
- Utah: 1.5 per 1,000 (140 boys)
- Iowa: 1.0 per 1,000 (70 boys)
- Idaho: 1.0 per 1,000 (40 boys)
- Wyoming: 0.9 per 1,000 (5 boys)
- Pennsylvania: 0.7 per 1,000 (197 boys)
Jay by decade
| Decade | Baby boys | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 1,016 | #123 |
| 1890s | 918 | #133 |
| 1900s | 926 | #160 |
| 1910s | 4,455 | #183 |
| 1920s | 8,054 | #168 |
| 1930s | 10,217 | #136 |
| 1940s | 18,655 | #115 |
| 1950s | 36,969 | #86 |
| 1960s | 42,712 | #78 |
| 1970s | 23,971 | #97 |
| 1980s | 15,841 | #141 |
| 1990s | 10,686 | #217 |
| 2000s | 8,167 | #313 |
| 2010s | 7,924 | #370 |
| 2020s | 5,037 | #367 |
Boy names about as popular as Jay
Questions
- Is Jay a boy or girl name?
- Jay is mostly a boy name. Over the last 10 years, 99% of babies named Jay were boys.
- How popular is the name Jay?
- 809 baby boys were named Jay in the US in 2025, making it the 392nd most popular boy name. Another 9 girls got the name (#10,104 for girls).
- When was Jay most popular?
- Jay peaked in 1960, when 5,385 boys were given the name. Its highest rank was #78 in 1960.
- How many people are named Jay?
- 198,132 babies have been named Jay in the US since 1880. We estimate about 141,776 of them are alive in 2026, with a median age of 57.
- Where is Jay most popular?
- From 2021 to 2025, Jay was most common in Utah, at 1.5 of every 1,000 boys born there.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880 to 2025 (names given to at least 5 babies of a sex in a year). Living-people and median-age figures are our estimates using US life tables. How we calculate.