Jace
A masculine name derived from the Hebrew name Jacob, meaning "supplanter."
Name Census estimates that about 88,268 living Americans carry the first name Jace. It sits at #114 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.0% of registrations). The average person named Jace today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jace births was 2013 (6,443 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jace. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Jace with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jace is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 859 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Jace is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
88K
~ 1 in 3,883 Americans
Peak year
2013
6,443 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#114
Tracked since 1936
Census
Jace in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 64,937 people with the first name Jace, which placed it at #768 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#768
National first-name rank
People counted
65K
64,937 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
21.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jace
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jace is White at 66.6%. The next largest groups are Black (11.9%) and Hispanic (11.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Jace described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Jace at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.6% · 43,237
- Black or African American11.9% · 7,712
- Hispanic or Latino11.4% · 7,387
- Two or more races7.0% · 4,528
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 1,238
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 835
Gender
Gender distribution for Jace
Out of the 89,277 babies given the name Jace since 1880, 99.0% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Jace as a male name
- Ranked #114 in 2024
- 3,113 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2013 (6,398 births)
Jace as a female name
- Ranked #7,034 in 2024
- 16 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2013 (45 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jace leans strongly male. 64,055 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 888 female bearers (1.4%).
Popularity
Jace: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jace from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 47,809 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jace remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jace by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Jace during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jaces live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Jace, while Vermont, District of Columbia, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,695 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jace
The name Jace is believed to have originated from the Hebrew language, specifically derived from the name Jacob or Ya'akov. This name holds deep roots in the biblical and religious traditions of Judaism and Christianity. In the Old Testament, Jacob was one of the patriarchs and the son of Isaac, who later had his name changed to Israel by God.
During the Middle Ages, the name Jace emerged as a shortened form or diminutive of the name Jacob. It gained popularity across various European regions, particularly in England and France. The earliest recorded instances of the name Jace can be traced back to the 13th century, where it appeared in historical records and documents.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Jace was Jace de Waterville, an English nobleman who lived in the late 12th century. He was a prominent figure during the reign of King Richard I and participated in the Third Crusade. Another notable figure was Jace de Courtenay, a French nobleman and military commander who fought in the Hundred Years' War during the 14th century.
In the realm of literature, the name Jace is associated with Jace the Huguenot, a character from the historical novel "The Refugees: A Tale of Two Continents" by Arthur Conan Doyle, published in 1893. This work shed light on the experiences of French Huguenot refugees during the 17th century.
Moving forward in time, one of the most renowned individuals bearing the name Jace was Jace Beleren, a powerful planeswalker and prominent character in the "Magic: The Gathering" trading card game universe. Introduced in 2009, Jace has become an iconic figure in the world of fantasy and gaming.
Another notable individual was Jace Everett, an American singer-songwriter born in 1972, best known for his hit song "Bad Things," which served as the theme song for the popular television series "True Blood."
While the name Jace may not be as common as its parent name Jacob, it has maintained a unique identity throughout history, carrying religious and cultural significance while also finding its place in various creative and literary works.
People
Jace + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jace as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jace: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jace?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 88,268 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jace going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 3,883 US residents.
Is Jace a common name?
We classify Jace as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 89,277 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jace most popular?
The single biggest year for Jace was 2013, when 6,443 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jace is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jace in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 64,937 people with the name Jace, or 21.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #768 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Jace in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Jace?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jace leans strongly male. 64,055 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 888 female bearers (1.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Jace?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jace is White at 66.6%. The next largest groups are Black (11.9%) and Hispanic (11.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Jace most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jace in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.6% (43,237 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Jace in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jace a male name?
Yes, 99.0% of people registered as Jace in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Jace still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jace in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Jace can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Jace?
See how many people have the name Jace on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.