Jerlene
A feminine name of uncertain origin, potentially a blend of "Geraldine" and "Charlene".
Name Census estimates that about 352 living Americans carry the first name Jerlene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jerlene today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jerlene births was 1947 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jerlene. 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
- • The typical person named Jerlene is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Jerlenes were born before 1960.
People living today
352
~ 1 in 973,734 Americans
Peak year
1947
38 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1988 SSA rank
#10,927
Tracked since 1915
Census
Jerlene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 546 people with the first name Jerlene, which placed it at #19,393 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
#19,393
National first-name rank
People counted
546
546 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
56.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jerlene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jerlene is Black at 56.6%. The next largest groups are White (33.3%) and Hispanic (2.7%). 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 Jerlene 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 Jerlene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American56.6% · 309
- White33.3% · 182
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 15
- Two or more races2.7% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 12
Popularity
Jerlene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jerlene from the 1910s through to the 1980s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 309 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jerlene 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 Jerlene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jerlenes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Texas, North Carolina, Arkansas recorded the most babies named Jerlene, while Tennessee, Kentucky, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jerlene
The name Jerlene is a relatively modern amalgamation, believed to have originated in the early 20th century as a combination of the Germanic root "ger" meaning "spear" and the French feminine suffix "-lene". Its origins can be traced back to the United States, where it gained popularity as a creative spin on more traditional names.
While there are no known historical references to the name Jerlene in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its unique construction reflects the linguistic melting pot that characterized the American experience in the early 1900s. The blending of Germanic and French elements suggests a desire to forge a new identity, distinct from the cultural traditions of the Old World.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Jerlene can be found in birth records from the 1920s and 1930s, particularly in the southern states of the United States. One notable bearer of the name was Jerlene Nolan (1918-2007), an American actress and singer who appeared in several Hollywood films during the 1940s and 1950s.
Another prominent figure with the name Jerlene was Jerlene Lockett (1942-2018), a former track and field athlete from the United States who won a silver medal in the long jump at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
In the realm of literature, Jerlene Stanford (1934-2022) was an acclaimed American author and poet, best known for her works exploring themes of racial identity and the African American experience.
The world of music also saw its share of notable Jerlenes, including Jerlene Toney (1934-2018), an American jazz vocalist and songwriter who performed with luminaries such as Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakey.
Lastly, Jerlene Newell (1953-present) is a former professional tennis player from the United States who achieved a career-high ranking of No. 17 in the world and won several doubles titles on the WTA Tour.
People
Jerlene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jerlene 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
Jerlene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jerlene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 352 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jerlene 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 973,734 US residents.
Is Jerlene a common name?
We classify Jerlene as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 924 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jerlene most popular?
The single biggest year for Jerlene was 1947, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jerlene is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jerlene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 546 people with the name Jerlene, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,393 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 Jerlene 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 Jerlene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jerlene appears almost entirely female. Of the 546 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Jerlene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jerlene is Black at 56.6%. The next largest groups are White (33.3%) and Hispanic (2.7%). 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 Jerlene most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jerlene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.6% (309 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 Jerlene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jerlene a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jerlene 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 Jerlene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jerlene 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 Jerlene 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 Jerlene?
Want to know how many people share the name Jerlene? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.