Jada
Of Arabic origin meaning "a new feminine form of Jad, meaning newborn baby."
Name Census estimates that about 65,989 living Americans carry the first name Jada. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jada today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jada births was 2005 (4,284 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jada. 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 Jada with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jada is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 256 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 2000s, recent registration numbers for Jada have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
66K
~ 1 in 5,194 Americans
Peak year
2005
4,284 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2020 SSA rank
#1,224
Tracked since 1920
Census
Jada in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 57,492 people with the first name Jada, which placed it at #822 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
#822
National first-name rank
People counted
57K
57,492 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
19.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
54.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jada
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jada is Black at 54.5%. The next largest groups are White (22.3%) and Hispanic (10.6%). 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 Jada 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 Jada at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American54.5% · 31,331
- White22.3% · 12,831
- Hispanic or Latino10.6% · 6,078
- Two or more races10.1% · 5,831
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 951
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 470
Gender
Gender distribution for Jada
Out of the 67,462 babies given the name Jada since 1880, 99.6% 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.
Jada as a male name
- Ranked #12,839 in 2020
- 5 male births in 2020
- Peak: 2004 (29 births)
Jada as a female name
- Ranked #1,224 in 2024
- 192 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2005 (4,267 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jada appears almost entirely female. Of the 57,490 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Jada: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jada from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 37,239 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jada 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 Jada during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jadas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Florida, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Jada, while Wyoming, Vermont, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,271 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jada
The name Jada has its roots in Arabic, originating from the word "Jadeed" which means "new" or "modern." The name gained popularity in the Middle East during the medieval period, particularly in regions like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jada can be found in the writings of the renowned Arab poet and scholar, Al-Mutanabbi, who lived in the 10th century. In one of his verses, he referred to a woman named Jada, praising her beauty and grace.
During the Islamic Golden Age, which spanned from the 8th to the 13th century, the name Jada became more widely used among Muslim families across the Middle East and North Africa. It was often associated with the idea of renewal and rebirth, reflecting the cultural and intellectual renaissance that took place during that era.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Jada. One of the earliest was Jada al-Hilaliyah, a 9th-century Arab poet known for her contributions to the literary circles of Baghdad. Her collection of poetry, titled "Diwan Jada al-Hilaliyah," remains an important work in Arabic literature.
In the 12th century, Jada bint al-Hasan al-Andalusi was a renowned scholar and poet from Seville, Spain. She was celebrated for her mastery of various disciplines, including Arabic literature, poetry, and Islamic jurisprudence.
Jumping forward to the 20th century, Jada Bharata was an influential Indian dancer and choreographer who played a pivotal role in reviving and popularizing the classical Indian dance form of Odissi. She was born in 1932 and received numerous accolades for her contributions to the arts.
Another notable figure with the name Jada was Jada Pinkett Smith, an American actress, producer, and businesswoman born in 1971. She gained widespread recognition for her roles in films such as "The Nutty Professor," "Set It Off," and the "Matrix" series.
Lastly, Jada Facer, born in 1982, is a British author and motivational speaker. She has written several books on personal development and self-empowerment, inspiring people around the world with her words and insights.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jada
People
Jada + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jada 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
Jada: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jada?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 65,989 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jada 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 5,194 US residents.
Is Jada a common name?
We classify Jada 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, 67,462 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jada most popular?
The single biggest year for Jada was 2005, when 4,284 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jada is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jada in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 57,492 people with the name Jada, or 19.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #822 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 Jada 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 Jada?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jada appears almost entirely female. Of the 57,490 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Jada?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jada is Black at 54.5%. The next largest groups are White (22.3%) and Hispanic (10.6%). 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 Jada most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jada in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.5% (31,331 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 Jada in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jada a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Jada 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 Jada still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jada 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 Jada 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 common is the name Jada?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.