Jaycee
Of English origin, a diminutive form of the name Jason, meaning "healer".
Name Census estimates that about 12,249 living Americans carry the first name Jaycee. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.5% of registrations being female. The average person named Jaycee today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jaycee births was 2011 (606 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jaycee. 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 Jaycee with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Jaycee is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 27,982 Americans
Peak year
2011
606 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#882
Tracked since 1934
Census
Jaycee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,598 people with the first name Jaycee, which placed it at #2,532 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
#2,532
National first-name rank
People counted
9.6K
9,598 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jaycee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jaycee is White at 67.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.8%) and Black (9.7%). 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 Jaycee 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 Jaycee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.8% · 6,503
- Hispanic or Latino10.8% · 1,039
- Black or African American9.7% · 929
- Two or more races6.0% · 578
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 296
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.6% · 253
Gender
Gender distribution for Jaycee
Jaycee leans heavily female at 87.5% of total registrations, but 1,558 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jaycee as a male name
- Ranked #2,401 in 2024
- 58 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (70 births)
Jaycee as a female name
- Ranked #882 in 2024
- 306 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2010 (572 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jaycee leans strongly female. 8,391 people counted with this name were female (87.5%), compared with 1,201 male bearers (12.5%).
Popularity
Jaycee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jaycee from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 4,946 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jaycee remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jaycee 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 Jaycee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jaycees live
The SSA's state-level files cover 40 states and territories. Texas, California, Utah recorded the most babies named Jaycee, while New Jersey, New Mexico, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 235 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jaycee
The given name Jaycee has its origins in the English language, emerging in the early 20th century as a diminutive form of the name Jason. Jason itself is derived from the Greek name Iasōn, which is believed to have derived from the Greek verb iasthai, meaning "to heal."
The earliest recorded use of the name Jaycee dates back to the early 1900s in the United States. It gained popularity as a spin-off of the name Jason, providing a more unique and modern alternative. The name Jaycee was particularly popular in the mid-20th century, but its roots can be traced back much further.
One of the earliest notable individuals to bear the name Jaycee was Jaycee Dugard, an American woman who was abducted at the age of 11 in 1991 and held captive for 18 years before being rescued in 2009. Her story garnered widespread media attention and shed light on the plight of abducted children.
Another famous bearer of the name Jaycee was Jaycee Carroll, an American professional basketball player born in 1983. He played in various leagues, including the NBA and overseas, and was known for his prolific scoring ability.
In the world of music, Jaycee Goshen was a notable American singer and songwriter born in 1975. She gained recognition for her soulful R&B and neo-soul performances, often drawing inspiration from her personal experiences.
The name Jaycee also has a historical connection to the Junior Chamber International (JCI), a non-profit organization dedicated to creating positive change in communities worldwide. Members of this organization were often referred to as "Jaycees," serving as a nod to the name's modern and youthful appeal.
In literature, the name Jaycee appears in several works, including the novel "The Jaycee Dugard Story" by Theresa Monsour, which chronicled the harrowing experiences of Jaycee Dugard during her captivity. This book brought further awareness to her case and the broader issue of child abduction.
While the name Jaycee may have had a more niche popularity compared to some other names, it has left an indelible mark on various aspects of history, from personal stories of resilience to cultural and artistic expressions. Its unique sound and modern flair continue to make it a distinctive choice for parents seeking a name with a rich background.
People
Jaycee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jaycee 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
Jaycee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jaycee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,249 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jaycee 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 27,982 US residents.
Is Jaycee a common name?
We classify Jaycee as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,451 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jaycee most popular?
The single biggest year for Jaycee was 2011, when 606 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jaycee is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jaycee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,598 people with the name Jaycee, or 3.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,532 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 Jaycee 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 Jaycee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jaycee leans strongly female. 8,391 people counted with this name were female (87.5%), compared with 1,201 male bearers (12.5%). 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 Jaycee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jaycee is White at 67.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.8%) and Black (9.7%). 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 Jaycee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jaycee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.8% (6,503 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 Jaycee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jaycee a female name?
Yes, 87.5% of people registered as Jaycee 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 Jaycee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jaycee 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 Jaycee 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 Jaycee?
You can see how many Americans are named Jaycee on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.