Very Common

James

Traditional English form of the name Jacob, of Hebrew origin meaning "supplanter".

Our analysis of Social Security Administration records puts the number of living Americans named James at approximately 3,142,267. That places it at #5 in the national ranking of first names. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named James today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of James births was 1947 (95,020 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to John (2,941,241).

This page is the full Name Census profile for James. 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 James with official rankings and popularity over time.

Key insights

• Although James is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 23,826 girls registered with the name since 1880.
• Over 3.1 million Americans are estimated to carry the first name James, putting it among the highest-count names in the entire dataset.

People living today

3.1M

~ 1 in 109 Americans

Peak year

1947

95,020 babies that year

Average age

years old

2024 SSA rank

Tracked since 1880

Census

James in the 2020 Census

The 2020 Census recorded 2,996,420 people with the first name James, which placed it at #3 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

National first-name rank

People counted

3.0M

2,996,420 in the published race/origin table

Per 100,000

992.1

People with this name in 2020

Largest reported group

White

82.0% of people with this name

Demographics

Ancestry and ethnicity for James

In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named James is White at 82.0%. The next largest groups are Black (9.7%) and Hispanic (3.4%). 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 James 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 James at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.

White82.0% · 2,457,719
Black or African American9.7% · 289,173
Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 103,234
Two or more races2.8% · 84,626
Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 44,337
American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 17,331

Gender

Gender distribution for James

Out of the 5,262,396 babies given the name James since 1880, 99.5% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.

100% male

Male5,238,570 (99.5%)Female23,826 (0.5%)

James as a male name

Ranked #5 in 2024
11,793 male births in 2024
Peak: 1947 (94,763 births)

James as a female name

Ranked #2,580 in 2024
68 female births in 2024
Peak: 1928 (427 births)

2020 Census snapshot

In the 2020 Census sex table, James appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,996,421 people counted with this name, 99.9% were male and only a very small share were female.

100% male

Male2,992,500 (99.9%)Female3,921 (0.1%)

Popularity

James: popularity over time

The SSA tracks James from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 846,319 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

MaleFemale

Decades

James 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 James during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.

Decade	Male	Female	Total
1880s	54,056	267	54,323
1890s	50,723	282	51,005
1900s	62,170	357	62,527
1910s	275,070	1,322	276,392
1920s	515,302	3,210	518,512
1930s	547,478	2,906	550,384
1940s	795,767	2,566	798,333
1950s	843,776	2,543	846,319
1960s	684,721	3,018	687,739
1970s	444,749	2,831	447,580
1980s	356,498	2,606	359,104
1990s	244,962	668	245,630
2000s	163,172	430	163,602
2010s	139,652	454	140,106
2020s	60,474	366	60,840

Geography

Where James' live

The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named James, while Alaska, Wyoming, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 99,804 registrations each.

Origin

Meaning and history of James

The name James originated from the Hebrew name Jacob, which means "supplanter" or "one who follows". The earliest recorded use of the name James dates back to the New Testament, where it was the name given to two of Jesus Christ's apostles. One was James, the son of Zebedee, and the other was James, the son of Alphaeus.

The name James was initially a variation of the Latin name Iacomus, which was derived from the Greek form of the Hebrew name Jacob, Iakobos. This variation became popular in the early Christian era and was widely adopted across Europe.

In the Middle Ages, the name James gained widespread popularity, particularly in England, where it was associated with several notable figures. One of the most famous bearers of the name was James I of England, who reigned from 1603 to 1625. He was the first monarch of the House of Stuart and played a significant role in the development of the English monarchy.

Another notable figure with the name James was James Cook, the renowned British explorer and navigator. Born in 1728, Cook is celebrated for his extensive voyages across the Pacific Ocean, during which he mapped numerous islands and coastlines, including the eastern coast of Australia.

In the realm of literature, James Joyce, the celebrated Irish novelist and poet, is one of the most famous bearers of the name. Born in 1882, Joyce is best known for his groundbreaking novel "Ulysses", which is considered a masterpiece of modernist literature.

The name James has also been borne by several U.S. presidents, including James Madison, the fourth president, who served from 1809 to 1817 and is known as the "Father of the Constitution". James K. Polk, the 11th president, served from 1845 to 1849 and is remembered for overseeing the acquisition of vast territories during the Mexican-American War.

Throughout history, the name James has maintained its popularity and significance, transcending cultural and linguistic boundaries. It continues to be a widely used name in many parts of the world, carrying with it a rich heritage and associations with notable figures from various fields.

Notable bearers

Famous people named James

People

James + last name combinations

How many people share a full name with James as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.

Other names starting with J

Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.

FAQ

James: questions and answers

How many people in the U.S. are named James?

Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,142,267 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for James 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 109 US residents.

Is James a common name?

We classify James as "Very Common". It ranks above 100% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,262,396 babies have been registered with this name.

When was James most popular?

The single biggest year for James was 1947, when 95,020 babies received the name. The fact that the average living James is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.

How common was James in the 2020 Census?

The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,996,420 people with the name James, or 992.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3 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 James 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 James?

In the 2020 Census sex table, James appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,996,421 people counted with this name, 99.9% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 James?

Which group reports the name James most often in the Census?

White is the largest reported group for people named James in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.0% (2,457,719 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 James in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.

Is James a male name?

Yes, 99.5% of people registered as James 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 James still being used today?

Yes. The SSA still recorded James 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 James 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 James?

For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.

Name Census

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There are 3.1M people

with the first name

James

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