Jami
A feminine Persian name derived from "jaam", meaning cup or goblet.
Name Census estimates that about 20,366 living Americans carry the first name Jami. It is a predominantly female name (95.8% of registrations). The average person named Jami today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jami births was 1977 (1,070 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jami. 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.
Key insights
- • Although Jami is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 937 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
20K
~ 1 in 16,830 Americans
Peak year
1977
1,070 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,815
Tracked since 1946
Gender
Gender distribution for Jami
Jami leans heavily female at 95.8% of total registrations, but 937 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jami as a male name
- Ranked #13,038 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1972 (45 births)
Jami as a female name
- Ranked #9,815 in 2024
- 10 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1977 (1,041 births)
Popularity
Jami: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jami from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 7,328 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jami 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 Jami during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jamis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 44 states and territories. California, Ohio, Texas recorded the most babies named Jami, while New Mexico, Connecticut, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 427 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jami
The name Jami is derived from the Persian language and has its roots in the Middle Eastern and Central Asian regions. It is believed to have originated during the medieval period, around the 9th to 13th centuries CE.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Jami can be found in the works of the renowned Persian poet and scholar, Nur ad-Din Abdur-Rahman Jami, who lived from 1414 to 1492 CE. Jami was his pen name, and he is considered one of the greatest poets in the Persian tradition, known for his spiritual and mystical writings.
The name Jami is thought to be a derivative of the Arabic word "jami'," which means "gathering" or "bringing together." This could be a reference to the poet's ability to bring together various literary and philosophical concepts in his works.
Another notable figure with the name Jami was Jami al-Tirmidhi, a Persian scholar and theologian who lived from 824 to 892 CE. He is best known for his collection of hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad), known as the "Jami' at-Tirmidhi," which is considered one of the six canonical collections of hadith in Sunni Islam.
In the Indian subcontinent, the name Jami is also found, although its usage is less common. One example is Jami Malik, a 16th-century Indian poet and scholar who wrote in the Persian language.
Moving forward in history, there have been several other notable individuals with the name Jami. For instance, Jami Gertz, an American actress born in 1965, is known for her roles in various movies and television shows.
Additionally, Jami Attenberg is a contemporary American author and novelist, born in 1964, whose works include "The Middlesteins" and "All This Could Be Yours."
While the name Jami may have originated in the Middle East and Central Asia, it has gained popularity in various cultures and regions over time, with individuals bearing this name leaving their mark in fields such as literature, religion, and the arts.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jami
People
Jami + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jami 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
Jami: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jami?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 20,366 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jami 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 16,830 US residents.
Is Jami a common name?
We classify Jami as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 22,405 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jami most popular?
The single biggest year for Jami was 1977, when 1,070 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jami is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Jami a female name?
Yes, 95.8% of people registered as Jami 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.
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.