Jenkins
An English surname absorbed from the Dutch, originally a diminutive of John.
Name Census estimates that about 86 living Americans carry the first name Jenkins. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jenkins today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jenkins births was 1923 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jenkins. 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 Jenkins. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
86
~ 1 in 3,985,516 Americans
Peak year
1923
11 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2021 SSA rank
#12,976
Tracked since 1890
Census
Jenkins in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 410 people with the first name Jenkins, which placed it at #23,765 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
#23,765
National first-name rank
People counted
410
410 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
52.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jenkins
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jenkins is Black at 52.7%. The next largest groups are White (35.1%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Jenkins 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 Jenkins at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American52.7% · 216
- White35.1% · 144
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 17
- Two or more races2.7% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 5
Popularity
Jenkins: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jenkins from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 57 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jenkins 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 Jenkins during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jenkins' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jenkins
The given name Jenkins is an English name derived from the medieval personal name Jenkin, which itself is a diminutive form of the name John. The name John traces its origins to the Hebrew name Yochanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious." The name Jenkins emerged in the 12th century as a pet form of the name Jenkin, with the addition of the diminutive suffix "-kin."
The earliest recorded use of the name Jenkins can be found in medieval English records from the 13th century. One notable early bearer of the name was Jenkins ap Ieuan, a Welsh landowner who lived in the late 13th century and is mentioned in historical documents from that period.
In the 14th century, the name Jenkins appeared in the literary works of Geoffrey Chaucer, the renowned English poet and author. In his famous work, "The Canterbury Tales," Chaucer included a character named Jenkins, a miller from the town of Trumpington.
During the English Renaissance, the name Jenkins was borne by several notable figures, including Jenkins Vaughan (c. 1585-1661), a Welsh writer and translator who published works in both Welsh and English. Another notable bearer of the name from this period was Jenkins Remfry (c. 1600-1675), an English soldier and politician who served as a Member of Parliament during the English Civil War.
In the 18th century, Jenkins Whiteside (1772-1856) was an Irish-born British naval officer who became famous for his role in the "Jenkins' Ear" incident, which contributed to the outbreak of the War of Jenkins' Ear between Britain and Spain in 1739.
Moving into the 19th century, Jenkins Jones (1811-1888) was a Welsh clergyman and author who wrote extensively on Welsh history and culture. Another notable figure from this period was Jenkins Remsen (1824-1892), an American lawyer and politician who served as the 19th Governor of New Jersey from 1876 to 1880.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the given name Jenkins, highlighting its long-standing presence and use across various cultures and time periods.
People
Jenkins + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jenkins 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
Jenkins: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jenkins?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 86 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jenkins 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 3,985,516 US residents.
Is Jenkins a common name?
We classify Jenkins as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 238 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jenkins most popular?
The single biggest year for Jenkins was 1923, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jenkins is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jenkins in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 410 people with the name Jenkins, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,765 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 Jenkins 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 Jenkins?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jenkins on both sides of the split. Of the 413 people counted with this name, 330 were male (79.9%) and 83 were female (20.1%). 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 Jenkins?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jenkins is Black at 52.7%. The next largest groups are White (35.1%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Jenkins most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jenkins in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.7% (216 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 Jenkins in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jenkins a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jenkins 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 Jenkins still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jenkins 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 Jenkins 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 share the name Jenkins?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.