Jacqueline
A feminine name of French origin meaning "supplanter".
Name Census estimates that about 313,394 living Americans carry the first name Jacqueline. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jacqueline today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jacqueline births was 1964 (12,024 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jacqueline. 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 Jacqueline with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jacqueline is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,391 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Jacqueline have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
313K
~ 1 in 1,094 Americans
Peak year
1964
12,024 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2013 SSA rank
#589
Tracked since 1891
Census
Jacqueline in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 331,317 people with the first name Jacqueline, which placed it at #151 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
#151
National first-name rank
People counted
331K
331,317 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
109.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jacqueline
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jacqueline is White at 55.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.4%) and Black (18.4%). 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 Jacqueline 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 Jacqueline at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.6% · 184,213
- Hispanic or Latino20.4% · 67,521
- Black or African American18.4% · 60,934
- Two or more races2.7% · 8,906
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 8,078
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1,665
Gender
Gender distribution for Jacqueline
Out of the 426,929 babies given the name Jacqueline since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Jacqueline as a male name
- Ranked #12,886 in 2013
- 5 male births in 2013
- Peak: 1964 (48 births)
Jacqueline as a female name
- Ranked #589 in 2024
- 510 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1964 (11,976 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jacqueline appears almost entirely female. Of the 331,316 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Jacqueline: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jacqueline from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 84,689 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jacqueline 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 Jacqueline during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jacquelines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Jacqueline, while Wyoming, Alaska, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8,311 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jacqueline
The name Jacqueline originates from the French language and can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is a feminine form of the masculine name Jacques, which in turn derives from the Late Latin name Jacobus, a Roman variation of the Hebrew name Ya'aqov (Jacob). The name Jacob means "supplanter" or "one who follows".
Jacqueline gained popularity as a given name in France during the 12th and 13th centuries, particularly among the nobility and upper classes. It was also used in other parts of Europe, such as England, where it was anglicized as "Jaqueline" or "Jacquelyn".
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jacqueline can be found in the 13th-century work "Roman de la Rose" by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, where a character named "Jaqueline" is mentioned.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Jacqueline. One of the most famous was Jacqueline of Bavaria (1401-1436), Countess of Hainaut, Holland, and Zeeland. Another was Jacqueline of Hainaut (1417-1472), Countess of Holland, who was known for her defiance against her uncle Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy.
In the 16th century, Jacqueline de Montbel (1542-1598), a French noblewoman and author, gained recognition for her writings on religion and philosophy.
Moving forward in time, Jacqueline Cochran (1906-1980) was an American aviator and one of the most prominent female pilots of her time. She was instrumental in the formation of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during World War II.
Another noteworthy Jacqueline was Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994), the wife of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy and later married to Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. She was known for her style, elegance, and her work as a book editor.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jacqueline
People
Jacqueline + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jacqueline 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
Jacqueline: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jacqueline?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 313,394 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jacqueline 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 1,094 US residents.
Is Jacqueline a common name?
We classify Jacqueline as "Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 426,929 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jacqueline most popular?
The single biggest year for Jacqueline was 1964, when 12,024 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jacqueline is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jacqueline in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 331,317 people with the name Jacqueline, or 109.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #151 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 Jacqueline 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 Jacqueline?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jacqueline appears almost entirely female. Of the 331,316 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Jacqueline?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jacqueline is White at 55.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.4%) and Black (18.4%). 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 Jacqueline most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jacqueline in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.6% (184,213 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 Jacqueline in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jacqueline a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Jacqueline in the SSA data are female. 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 Jacqueline still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jacqueline 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 Jacqueline 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 people have the name Jacqueline?
Find out how many people have the name Jacqueline on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.