Jayda
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "abundant" or "prosperous".
Name Census estimates that about 20,822 living Americans carry the first name Jayda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jayda today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jayda births was 2009 (1,397 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jayda. 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 Jayda with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Jayda 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
21K
~ 1 in 16,461 Americans
Peak year
2009
1,397 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2010 SSA rank
#1,127
Tracked since 1963
Census
Jayda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 16,161 people with the first name Jayda, which placed it at #1,819 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
#1,819
National first-name rank
People counted
16K
16,161 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
37.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jayda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jayda is Black at 37.3%. The next largest groups are White (29.3%) and Hispanic (17.3%). 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 Jayda 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 Jayda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American37.3% · 6,026
- White29.3% · 4,729
- Hispanic or Latino17.3% · 2,801
- Two or more races13.2% · 2,132
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 310
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 163
Gender
Gender distribution for Jayda
Out of the 21,098 babies given the name Jayda since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Jayda as a male name
- Ranked #11,362 in 2010
- 6 male births in 2010
- Peak: 2007 (8 births)
Jayda as a female name
- Ranked #1,127 in 2024
- 214 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (1,397 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jayda appears almost entirely female. Of the 16,166 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Jayda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jayda from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 10,134 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
Jayda 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 Jayda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jaydas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Jayda, while Montana, District of Columbia, New Hampshire recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 409 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jayda
The name Jayda is of Arabic origin, derived from the Arabic word "jadah" which means "good luck" or "fortune." It is a relatively modern name that emerged in the late 20th century, although its roots can be traced back to ancient Arabic culture and language.
The earliest recorded use of the name Jayda can be found in Arabic literature and poetry from the 7th century. While it was not a common name during that time, it was used as a descriptive term to express good fortune and blessings. Over the centuries, the name gradually gained popularity in various Arabic-speaking regions, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Jayda was Jayda bint Abi Sufyan, a prominent figure in early Islamic history. She lived in the 7th century and was known for her intelligence, wisdom, and influence in shaping the social and political landscape of the time.
Another notable figure with the name Jayda was Jayda al-Andalusiyya, a renowned poet and scholar who lived in 11th-century Andalusia (present-day Spain). Her poetic works and literary contributions played a significant role in preserving and promoting Arabic culture during the golden age of Islamic civilization in Spain.
In the 19th century, Jayda al-Husayni was a prominent Palestinian educator and activist who advocated for women's rights and education. She established several schools and centers for girls in the region and worked tirelessly to empower women through education and social reform.
Moving into the 20th century, Jayda Fransen was a Dutch-born Australian novelist and playwright who gained recognition for her works exploring themes of identity, migration, and cultural assimilation. She was born in 1927 and her literary works often reflected her experiences as a writer of mixed heritage.
Jayda Akil was a Syrian artist and sculptor who lived from 1938 to 2016. Her artistic works, which included sculptures, installations, and mixed media pieces, explored themes of identity, displacement, and the human condition. She was widely celebrated for her contributions to the contemporary art scene in the Middle East and beyond.
While the name Jayda has its roots in Arabic culture and language, it has gained popularity globally in recent decades, transcending cultural and linguistic boundaries. Its meaning of "good luck" and "fortune" has resonated with parents from diverse backgrounds, making it a popular choice for baby names in various parts of the world.
People
Jayda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jayda 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
Jayda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jayda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 20,822 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jayda 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 16,461 US residents.
Is Jayda a common name?
We classify Jayda 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, 21,098 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jayda most popular?
The single biggest year for Jayda was 2009, when 1,397 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jayda 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 Jayda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 16,161 people with the name Jayda, or 5.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,819 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 Jayda 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 Jayda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jayda appears almost entirely female. Of the 16,166 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Jayda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jayda is Black at 37.3%. The next largest groups are White (29.3%) and Hispanic (17.3%). 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 Jayda most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jayda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.3% (6,026 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 Jayda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jayda a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Jayda 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 Jayda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jayda 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 Jayda 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 the name Jayda?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Jayda, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.