Jacqui
Feminine diminutive form of the name Jacques, meaning "supplanter" or "may God protect".
Name Census estimates that about 773 living Americans carry the first name Jacqui. It is a predominantly female name (98.5% of registrations). The average person named Jacqui today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jacqui births was 1961 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jacqui. 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 Jacqui with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
773
~ 1 in 443,408 Americans
Peak year
1961
43 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
1995 SSA rank
#7,302
Tracked since 1945
Census
Jacqui in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,857 people with the first name Jacqui, which placed it at #7,949 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
#7,949
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,857 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jacqui
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jacqui is White at 70.8%. The next largest groups are Black (12.6%) and Hispanic (9.0%). 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 Jacqui 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 Jacqui at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.8% · 1,314
- Black or African American12.6% · 234
- Hispanic or Latino9.0% · 167
- Two or more races5.1% · 95
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 38
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Jacqui
Jacqui leans heavily female at 98.5% of total registrations, but 13 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jacqui as a male name
- Ranked #7,302 in 1995
- 7 male births in 1995
- Peak: 1995 (7 births)
Jacqui as a female name
- Ranked #17,283 in 2016
- 5 female births in 2016
- Peak: 1961 (43 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jacqui leans strongly female. 1,799 people counted with this name were female (97.0%), compared with 55 male bearers (3.0%).
Popularity
Jacqui: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jacqui from the 1940s through to the 2010s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 248 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
Jacqui 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 Jacqui during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jacquis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Illinois, Ohio recorded the most babies named Jacqui, while Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jacqui
The name Jacqui is a diminutive form of the French name Jacques, which is the French form of the name Jacob. The name Jacob originates from the Hebrew name Ya'aqov, meaning "heel" or "supplanter." The name is derived from the biblical story of Jacob and Esau, where Jacob was born holding on to his twin brother Esau's heel.
The name Jacques became popular in France during the Middle Ages and was later anglicized to James in English-speaking countries. The diminutive form Jacqui emerged as a nickname for Jacques or James, particularly in the 20th century.
One of the earliest known references to the name Jacqui can be found in the writings of the French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes, who mentioned a woman named Jacqueline in his letters from the 17th century. However, it is unclear if this was a direct reference to the diminutive form Jacqui.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Jacqui, including Jacqui McShee (born 1949), an English folk singer and member of the band Pentangle. Another famous Jacqui is Jacqueline "Jacqui" Reddin (born 1955), an English former cricketer who played for the England women's national cricket team.
In the world of literature, Jacqui is the name of a character in the novel "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood, published in 1985. The character is a member of the resistance movement against the oppressive regime in the fictional Republic of Gilead.
Other notable individuals with the name Jacqui include Jacqui Saburido (born 1978), a Venezuelan woman who became an anti-drunk driving activist after being severely burned in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. Additionally, Jacqui Oatley (born 1982) is an English sports broadcaster and the first female commentator on Match of the Day, a long-running British television program dedicated to association football.
While the name Jacqui has its roots in French and Hebrew origins, it has gained popularity as a diminutive form across various cultures and countries, particularly in the English-speaking world.
People
Jacqui + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jacqui 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
Jacqui: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jacqui?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 773 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jacqui 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 443,408 US residents.
Is Jacqui a common name?
We classify Jacqui as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 889 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jacqui most popular?
The single biggest year for Jacqui was 1961, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jacqui 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 Jacqui in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,857 people with the name Jacqui, or 0.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,949 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 Jacqui 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 Jacqui?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jacqui leans strongly female. 1,799 people counted with this name were female (97.0%), compared with 55 male bearers (3.0%). 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 Jacqui?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jacqui is White at 70.8%. The next largest groups are Black (12.6%) and Hispanic (9.0%). 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 Jacqui most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jacqui in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.8% (1,314 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 Jacqui in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jacqui a female name?
Yes, 98.5% of people registered as Jacqui 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 Jacqui still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jacqui 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 Jacqui 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 Jacqui as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Jacqui, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.