Jacquelyn
A feminine name of French origin meaning "supplanter" or "one who follows".
Name Census estimates that about 62,095 living Americans carry the first name Jacquelyn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jacquelyn today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jacquelyn births was 1951 (1,905 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jacquelyn. 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.
Key insights
- • Although Jacquelyn is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 110 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1950s, recent registration numbers for Jacquelyn have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
62K
~ 1 in 5,520 Americans
Peak year
1951
1,905 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
1990 SSA rank
#2,285
Tracked since 1907
Gender
Gender distribution for Jacquelyn
Out of the 85,226 babies given the name Jacquelyn since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Jacquelyn as a male name
- Ranked #6,067 in 1990
- 8 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1982 (10 births)
Jacquelyn as a female name
- Ranked #2,285 in 2024
- 81 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1951 (1,905 births)
Popularity
Jacquelyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jacquelyn from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 14,832 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jacquelyn 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 Jacquelyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jacquelyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Jacquelyn, while Wyoming, Alaska, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,589 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jacquelyn
The name Jacquelyn is a feminine form of the French name Jacques, which derived from the late Latin name Jacobus, meaning "supplanter" or "one who follows". Jacobus itself came from the Hebrew name Ya'aqov, which was the name of one of the patriarchs in the Bible.
The name Jacques became popular in France during the Middle Ages and was later anglicized into various spellings, including Jacqueline and Jacquelyn. The earliest recorded use of the name Jacquelyn dates back to the late 16th century.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Jacquelyn was Jacqueline of Bavaria (1401-1436), the Countess of Holland, Zeeland, and Hainaut. She was a prominent figure in the Hundred Years' War and played a significant role in the political affairs of the Low Countries during her lifetime.
Another historical figure with the name Jacquelyn was Jacqueline du Pré (1945-1987), a renowned English cellist. She was widely celebrated for her virtuosic performances and is considered one of the greatest cellists of the 20th century.
Jacquelyn Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994), the wife of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, was a prominent figure in American history. She was known for her fashion sense, cultural influence, and her role as First Lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963.
Jacquelyn Mitchard (born 1953) is an American novelist and author, best known for her novel "The Deep End of the Ocean," which was an Oprah's Book Club selection and later adapted into a feature film.
Jacquelyn Susann (1918-1974) was an American author who achieved fame with her bestselling novel "Valley of the Dolls," which depicted the lives of fictional Hollywood stars and their struggles with substance abuse and personal turmoil.
Overall, the name Jacquelyn has a rich history, with roots in both French and Hebrew cultures, and has been borne by notable figures across various fields, including politics, arts, and literature.
People
Jacquelyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jacquelyn 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
Jacquelyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jacquelyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 62,095 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jacquelyn 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 5,520 US residents.
Is Jacquelyn a common name?
We classify Jacquelyn as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 85,226 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jacquelyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Jacquelyn was 1951, when 1,905 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jacquelyn is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Jacquelyn a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Jacquelyn 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.
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.