Jayle
A feminine name of undetermined origin, perhaps a variant of Jael or Jaelle.
Name Census estimates that about 85 living Americans carry the first name Jayle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jayle today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jayle births was 2006 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jayle. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Jayle. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
85
~ 1 in 4,032,404 Americans
Peak year
2006
14 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2015 SSA rank
#17,608
Tracked since 1957
Census
Jayle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 245 people with the first name Jayle, which placed it at #33,672 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
#33,672
National first-name rank
People counted
245
245 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
38.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jayle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jayle is White at 38.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.3%) and Black (24.9%). 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 Jayle 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 Jayle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White38.4% · 94
- Hispanic or Latino27.3% · 67
- Black or African American24.9% · 61
- Two or more races5.7% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 3
Popularity
Jayle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jayle from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 54 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Jayle remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jayle 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 Jayle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jayle
The name Jayle is believed to have originated from the Old French word "jaille," which means "jail" or "prison." It was likely used as a descriptive surname in medieval times, possibly referring to someone who worked as a jailer or lived near a jail. While the exact origins of Jayle as a given name are uncertain, it may have been influenced by the French word "Gaillard," which means "high-spirited" or "lively."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jayle can be found in the 14th century in France, where it appeared in historical documents as a surname. However, its usage as a given name did not become more widespread until the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Interestingly, the name Jayle was mentioned in the literary work "The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer, written in the late 14th century. In the tale "The Friar's Tale," a character named Jayle is described as a summoner, which was an officer who summoned people to appear in court.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Jayle. One of the earliest was Jayle de Baux (1315-1372), a French nobleman and military commander who fought in the Hundred Years' War against the English. Another noteworthy figure was Jayle de Montmorency (1495-1567), a French nobleman and diplomat who served as the ambassador to England during the reign of Henry VIII.
In more recent times, Jayle Wiles (1859-1932) was an American author and poet who wrote several works of fiction and non-fiction, including "The Pines of Mexico" and "The Garden of Memories." Jayle Bearnes (1885-1968) was a British artist and illustrator known for her botanical illustrations and watercolor paintings.
Lastly, Jayle Cavendish (1920-2008) was an Australian actress and television personality who appeared in numerous productions, including the long-running soap opera "Neighbours." She was also known for her philanthropic work and was awarded the Order of Australia in 1992 for her contributions to the arts and community.
People
Jayle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jayle 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
Jayle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jayle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 85 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jayle 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 4,032,404 US residents.
Is Jayle a common name?
We classify Jayle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 87 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jayle most popular?
The single biggest year for Jayle was 2006, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jayle is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jayle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 245 people with the name Jayle, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,672 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 Jayle 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 Jayle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jayle leans strongly female. 204 people counted with this name were female (80.6%), compared with 49 male bearers (19.4%). 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 Jayle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jayle is White at 38.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.3%) and Black (24.9%). 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 Jayle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jayle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.4% (94 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 Jayle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jayle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jayle 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 Jayle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jayle 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 Jayle 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 Americans are named Jayle?
See how many people share the name Jayle on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.