Jeong
A Korean name meaning truth or sincerity.
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Jeong. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jeong today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jeong births was 1989 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jeong. 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 Jeong. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
1989
5 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
1989 SSA rank
#8,477
Tracked since 1989
Census
Jeong in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,160 people with the first name Jeong, which placed it at #7,138 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
#7,138
National first-name rank
People counted
2.2K
2,160 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
98.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jeong
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeong is Asian/Pacific Islander at 98.5%. The next largest groups are White (0.7%) and Two or More Races (0.4%). 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 Jeong 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 Jeong at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander98.5% · 2,127
- White0.7% · 16
- Two or more races0.4% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino0.2% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
- Black or African American0.0% · 1
Popularity
Jeong: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Jeong 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 Jeong during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Jeong
The given name Jeong originates from the Korean language and culture. It is a romanized spelling of the Korean name 정, which has its roots in the ancient Korean kingdoms of Silla and Goryeo. The name is believed to have derived from the Old Korean word "jung," meaning "right" or "correct."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jeong can be found in the Samguk Sagi, a historical record of the Three Kingdoms period in ancient Korea (57 BC - 935 AD). The text mentions several notable figures with the name Jeong, including Jeong Chi-won, a revered Buddhist monk and scholar who lived during the Silla Kingdom (676-780 AD).
During the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392), the name Jeong gained prominence among the ruling class and scholarly elite. Jeong Mongju (1337-1392), a prominent Neo-Confucian scholar and statesman, was one of the most influential figures of this era. His works and teachings had a lasting impact on Korean philosophy and politics.
In the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897), the name Jeong continued to be widely used. Jeong Yak-yong (1762-1836), a renowned scholar and philosopher, made significant contributions to the development of Silhak, a practical and rationalist intellectual movement in Korea.
Another notable figure with the name Jeong was Jeong Sik (1876-1950), a prominent educator and independence activist who played a crucial role in the Korean independence movement against Japanese colonial rule.
Jeong Tae-gu (1932-2018) was a renowned writer and poet who received numerous literary awards, including the prestigious Daesan Literary Award in 1987, for his contributions to Korean literature.
These are just a few examples of the many historical figures who bore the name Jeong, reflecting its deep roots and significance in Korean culture and history.
People
Jeong + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jeong 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
Jeong: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jeong?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jeong 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Jeong a common name?
We classify Jeong as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jeong most popular?
The single biggest year for Jeong was 1989, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jeong is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jeong in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,160 people with the name Jeong, or 0.72 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,138 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 Jeong 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 Jeong?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jeong on both sides of the split. Of the 2,159 people counted with this name, 740 were male (34.3%) and 1,419 were female (65.7%). 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 Jeong?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeong is Asian/Pacific Islander at 98.5%. The next largest groups are White (0.7%) and Two or More Races (0.4%). 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 Jeong most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Jeong in the 2020 Census, accounting for 98.5% (2,127 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 Jeong in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jeong a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jeong 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 Jeong still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jeong 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 Jeong 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 Jeong as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Jeong on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.