Jayden
A masculine name of Hebrew origin likely meaning "thankful" or "God has been gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 268,722 living Americans carry the first name Jayden. It sits at #59 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (91.9% of registrations). The average person named Jayden today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jayden births was 2009 (19,080 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Bruce (267,607).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jayden. 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 Jayden with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Jayden is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
269K
~ 1 in 1,275 Americans
Peak year
2009
19,080 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#59
Tracked since 1977
Census
Jayden in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 195,735 people with the first name Jayden, which placed it at #284 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
#284
National first-name rank
People counted
196K
195,735 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
64.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
31.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jayden
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jayden is Hispanic at 31.6%. The next largest groups are White (31.0%) and Black (21.7%). 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 Jayden 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 Jayden at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino31.6% · 61,757
- White31.0% · 60,644
- Black or African American21.7% · 42,472
- Two or more races8.6% · 16,775
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.3% · 12,389
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 1,698
Gender
Gender distribution for Jayden
Jayden leans heavily male at 91.9% of total registrations, but 22,001 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jayden as a male name
- Ranked #59 in 2024
- 5,134 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (17,313 births)
Jayden as a female name
- Ranked #2,040 in 2024
- 95 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (2,045 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jayden leans strongly male. 176,369 people counted with this name were male (90.1%), compared with 19,363 female bearers (9.9%).
Popularity
Jayden: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jayden from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 132,288 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jayden 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 Jayden during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jaydens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Jayden, while Vermont, Wyoming, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5,284 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jayden
The name Jayden is a modern English name that emerged in the late 20th century. It is a variant of the name Jaiden, which is derived from the Hebrew name Jaida or Jaydah, meaning "the Lord knows" or "He will know." The name's popularity skyrocketed in the United States and other English-speaking countries in the early 2000s.
While the name's exact origins are uncertain, some scholars believe it may have been influenced by the Hebrew name Jayden, which means "thankful" or "grateful." Others suggest it could be a combination of the names Jacob and Aidan, both of which were popular during the same period.
Despite its recent surge in popularity, the name Jayden has a rich historical lineage. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the ancient Hebrew texts, where it was used as a masculine name. However, its usage was relatively rare until the late 20th century.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Jayden. One of the earliest was Jayden ibn al-Rashid, a 9th-century Arab mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the field of trigonometry. Another notable figure was Jayden al-Ghazali, a 12th-century Persian philosopher and theologian whose works had a profound impact on Islamic thought.
In more recent times, Jayden Smith, the son of actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, has helped popularize the name. Born in 1998, he has gained recognition as an actor, rapper, and fashion icon. Additionally, Jayden Bartels, born in 2006, is a rising child actor known for his roles in movies like "The Tender Bar" and "Andor."
Other individuals who have carried the name Jayden include Jayden Daniels, a college football quarterback for Louisiana State University, and Jayden Gardner, a professional basketball player for the Virginia Cavaliers. These examples demonstrate the name's diverse appeal across various fields and cultures.
People
Jayden + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jayden 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
Jayden: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jayden?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 268,722 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jayden 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 1,275 US residents.
Is Jayden a common name?
We classify Jayden as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 271,246 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jayden most popular?
The single biggest year for Jayden was 2009, when 19,080 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jayden is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jayden in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 195,735 people with the name Jayden, or 64.81 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #284 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 Jayden 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 Jayden?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jayden leans strongly male. 176,369 people counted with this name were male (90.1%), compared with 19,363 female bearers (9.9%). 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 Jayden?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jayden is Hispanic at 31.6%. The next largest groups are White (31.0%) and Black (21.7%). 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 Jayden most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Jayden in the 2020 Census, accounting for 31.6% (61,757 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 Jayden in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jayden a male name?
Yes, 91.9% of people registered as Jayden 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 Jayden still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jayden 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 Jayden 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 Jayden?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Jayden on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.