Jasper
An Old French name derived from the gemstone of greenish quartz.
Name Census estimates that about 48,027 living Americans carry the first name Jasper. It sits at #133 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (98.0% of registrations). The average person named Jasper today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jasper births was 2023 (3,012 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jasper. 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 Jasper with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jasper is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,204 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
48K
~ 1 in 7,137 Americans
Peak year
2023
3,012 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#133
Tracked since 1880
Census
Jasper in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 31,498 people with the first name Jasper, which placed it at #1,221 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
#1,221
National first-name rank
People counted
31K
31,498 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
10.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jasper
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jasper is White at 62.1%. The next largest groups are Black (12.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.1%). 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 Jasper 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 Jasper at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.1% · 19,566
- Black or African American12.0% · 3,791
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.1% · 2,857
- Hispanic or Latino8.3% · 2,630
- Two or more races6.9% · 2,160
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 494
Gender
Gender distribution for Jasper
Jasper leans heavily male at 98.0% of total registrations, but 1,204 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jasper as a male name
- Ranked #133 in 2024
- 2,750 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (2,942 births)
Jasper as a female name
- Ranked #3,186 in 2024
- 50 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (83 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jasper leans strongly male. 30,583 people counted with this name were male (97.1%), compared with 917 female bearers (2.9%).
Popularity
Jasper: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jasper from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 18,579 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jasper remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jasper 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 Jasper during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jaspers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Jasper, while Rhode Island, Delaware, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,040 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jasper
The name Jasper has its origins in the Persian language and can be traced back to the ancient Achaemenid Empire of Persia, which ruled from 550 BC to 330 BC. The name is derived from the Persian word "gasht" or "gisht", meaning "treasurer" or "keeper of riches".
In ancient times, the name Jasper was associated with the precious gemstone of the same name, which was highly valued for its beauty and believed to possess protective powers. The word "jasper" ultimately comes from the French "jaspre" and the Old French phrase "jaspe pierre" meaning "jasper stone".
One of the earliest known references to the name Jasper can be found in the Bible's Book of Revelation, where it is mentioned as one of the twelve precious stones adorning the foundations of the New Jerusalem. This association with the gemstone and its symbolic significance in religious texts likely contributed to the name's popularity in Europe during the Middle Ages.
The first recorded use of the name Jasper as a personal name dates back to the 12th century, when it appeared in various forms such as "Jasper", "Gaspard", and "Caspar" across different regions of Europe. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Jasper Gennath, a German philosopher and theologian who lived in the 14th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Jasper. These include:
1. Jasper Tudor (c. 1439 - c. 1495), the uncle of King Henry VII of England and a prominent figure in the Wars of the Roses.
2. Jasper Heywood (c. 1535 - 1598), an English translator and playwright during the Elizabethan era.
3. Jasper Pääkkönen (born 1980), a Finnish actor known for his roles in films such as "BlacKkKlansman" and "Vikings".
4. Jasper Fforde (born 1961), a British novelist best known for his "Thursday Next" series of literary detective novels.
5. Jasper Johns (born 1930), an American painter and artist celebrated for his works depicting flags, targets, and other everyday objects.
The name Jasper has maintained its popularity throughout the centuries, and its association with the gemstone, as well as its historical and literary references, have contributed to its enduring appeal.
People
Jasper + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jasper 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
Jasper: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jasper?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 48,027 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jasper 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 7,137 US residents.
Is Jasper a common name?
We classify Jasper as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 60,802 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jasper most popular?
The single biggest year for Jasper was 2023, when 3,012 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jasper is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jasper in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 31,498 people with the name Jasper, or 10.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,221 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 Jasper 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 Jasper?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jasper leans strongly male. 30,583 people counted with this name were male (97.1%), compared with 917 female bearers (2.9%). 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 Jasper?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jasper is White at 62.1%. The next largest groups are Black (12.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.1%). 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 Jasper most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jasper in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.1% (19,566 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 Jasper in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jasper a male name?
Yes, 98.0% of people registered as Jasper 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 Jasper still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jasper 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 Jasper 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 Jasper as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Jasper, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.