Jager
A masculine German name meaning "hunter" or "huntsman".
Name Census estimates that about 594 living Americans carry the first name Jager. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jager today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jager births was 2001 (44 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jager. 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
594
~ 1 in 577,028 Americans
Peak year
2001
44 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,274
Tracked since 1992
Census
Jager in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 540 people with the first name Jager, which placed it at #19,526 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
#19,526
National first-name rank
People counted
540
540 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jager
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jager is White at 77.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.9%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Jager 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 Jager at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.6% · 419
- Hispanic or Latino10.9% · 59
- Two or more races5.4% · 29
- Black or African American3.0% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 8
Popularity
Jager: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jager from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 259 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
Jager 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 Jager during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jagers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Michigan, Minnesota, Texas recorded the most babies named Jager, while Texas, Minnesota, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jager
The name Jager has its origins in the German language, derived from the word "Jäger," which means "hunter" or "huntsman." This name emerged during the Middle Ages in Central Europe, particularly in regions where hunting was a prominent economic and cultural activity.
The earliest known references to the name Jager can be traced back to the 13th century, where it was commonly used to denote individuals involved in the hunting profession, such as gamekeepers or foresters. Over time, the name transcended its occupational roots and became a widely adopted personal name.
One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing the name Jager was Konrad von Jäger, a German nobleman and hunter who lived in the late 13th century. He was known for his skills in hunting and his contributions to the development of hunting techniques and equipment during that era.
In the 16th century, the name gained prominence with the life of Georg Jäger, a renowned German cartographer and surveyor. Born in 1516, Jäger's detailed maps and surveys of various regions in Central Europe were highly regarded and contributed significantly to the advancement of cartography.
Another notable figure bearing the name Jager was Johann Wolfgang Jäger, a German philosopher and theologian who lived from 1647 to 1720. Jäger's writings on ethics, metaphysics, and religious philosophy had a significant impact on intellectual discourse during the Enlightenment period.
In the 19th century, the name Jager was associated with the famous German naturalist and explorer, Georg Friedrich von Jäger. Born in 1785, Jäger embarked on numerous expeditions to South America and the Caribbean, making significant contributions to the study of flora and fauna in those regions.
Another individual of historical significance was Gerhard Jäger, a German military officer who played a crucial role in the Second World War. Born in 1890, Jäger served as a general in the Wehrmacht and was known for his strategic leadership during the Eastern Front campaigns.
Throughout history, the name Jager has been carried by individuals from various walks of life, including hunters, cartographers, philosophers, naturalists, and military leaders. While its origins are rooted in the hunting profession, the name has transcended its occupational associations and become a widely recognized personal name in German-speaking regions and beyond.
People
Jager + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jager 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
Jager: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jager?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 594 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jager 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 577,028 US residents.
Is Jager a common name?
We classify Jager as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 601 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jager most popular?
The single biggest year for Jager was 2001, when 44 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jager is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jager in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 540 people with the name Jager, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,526 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 Jager 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 Jager?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jager leans strongly male. 526 people counted with this name were male (97.2%), compared with 15 female bearers (2.8%). 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 Jager?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jager is White at 77.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.9%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Jager most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jager in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.6% (419 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 Jager in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jager a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jager in the SSA data are male. 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 Jager still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jager 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 Jager 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 are called Jager?
You can see how many people have the name Jager on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.