Jadea
An Old French feminine name perhaps meaning "precious stone".
Name Census estimates that about 342 living Americans carry the first name Jadea. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jadea today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jadea births was 2003 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jadea. 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.
People living today
342
~ 1 in 1,002,206 Americans
Peak year
2003
26 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2018 SSA rank
#16,640
Tracked since 1988
Census
Jadea in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 347 people with the first name Jadea, which placed it at #26,696 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
#26,696
National first-name rank
People counted
347
347 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
43.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jadea
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jadea is Black at 43.5%. The next largest groups are White (31.7%) and Hispanic (12.1%). 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 Jadea 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 Jadea at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American43.5% · 151
- White31.7% · 110
- Hispanic or Latino12.1% · 42
- Two or more races10.1% · 35
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 4
Popularity
Jadea: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jadea from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 188 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
Jadea 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 Jadea during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jadea
The name Jadea has its origins in the ancient Sumerian language, one of the earliest known civilizations in Mesopotamia, dating back to around 3500 BC. The root of the name is believed to be "jad," which means "precious stone" or "gem" in Sumerian. This suggests that the name was originally associated with rarity, beauty, and value.
In some ancient Sumerian texts, the name Jadea is mentioned as a variant spelling of Jadis, which was a common name given to priestesses or oracles who were believed to possess mystical powers and the ability to communicate with the divine. The name was revered and held in high esteem within the religious and spiritual traditions of the Sumerians.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jadea can be found in a cuneiform tablet from the city of Uruk, dated around 2800 BC. The tablet mentions a woman named Jadea who was a high priestess in the temple of the goddess Inanna, a prominent deity in the Sumerian pantheon.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Jadea. One of the most famous was Jadea of Carthage, a Phoenician explorer who is believed to have sailed along the western coast of Africa in the 5th century BC. Her voyage is documented in the Periplus of Hanno, a Greek account of her journey.
Another historical figure with the name Jadea was a Byzantine princess who lived in the 10th century AD. She was the daughter of Emperor Basil II and played a significant role in the political intrigues of the Byzantine court during her lifetime.
In the 12th century, there was a Jadea of Antioch, a prominent crusader who participated in the Third Crusade and fought alongside Richard the Lionheart. She was renowned for her bravery and military prowess on the battlefield.
During the Renaissance period, a Jadea da Vinci was mentioned as a distant relative of the famous artist and polymath Leonardo da Vinci. Although little is known about her life, she is believed to have been a patron of the arts and a supporter of Leonardo's work.
In the 17th century, a woman named Jadea Komnene was a scholar and historian who authored several works on the Byzantine Empire. Her most notable work, the Alexiad, is a valuable historical account of the reign of her father, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos.
These examples highlight the rich and diverse history of the name Jadea, which has been borne by individuals from various cultures and time periods, often associated with religious, intellectual, or artistic pursuits.
People
Jadea + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jadea 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
Jadea: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jadea?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 342 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jadea 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 1,002,206 US residents.
Is Jadea a common name?
We classify Jadea as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 349 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jadea most popular?
The single biggest year for Jadea was 2003, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jadea is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jadea in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 347 people with the name Jadea, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,696 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 Jadea 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 Jadea?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jadea leans strongly female. 322 people counted with this name were female (93.9%), compared with 21 male bearers (6.1%). 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 Jadea?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jadea is Black at 43.5%. The next largest groups are White (31.7%) and Hispanic (12.1%). 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 Jadea most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jadea in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.5% (151 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 Jadea in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jadea a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jadea 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 Jadea still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jadea 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 Jadea 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 Jadea as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Jadea on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.