Jerlin
A feminine name with uncertain origins, potentially derived from "Geraldine".
Name Census estimates that about 17 living Americans carry the first name Jerlin. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 70.6% of registrations being female. The average person named Jerlin today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jerlin births was 2006 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jerlin. 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 Jerlin. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
17
~ 1 in 20,162,020 Americans
Peak year
2006
6 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2022 SSA rank
#13,192
Tracked since 2006
Census
Jerlin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 198 people with the first name Jerlin, which placed it at #38,638 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
#38,638
National first-name rank
People counted
198
198 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
68.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jerlin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jerlin is Hispanic at 68.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (13.1%) and Black (10.1%). 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 Jerlin 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 Jerlin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino68.7% · 136
- Asian and Pacific Islander13.1% · 26
- Black or African American10.1% · 20
- White8.1% · 16
Gender
Gender distribution for Jerlin
Jerlin is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 17 total registrations, 5 (29.4%) were male and 12 (70.6%) were female.
Jerlin as a male name
- Ranked #13,192 in 2022
- 5 male births in 2022
- Peak: 2022 (5 births)
Jerlin as a female name
- Ranked #16,371 in 2007
- 6 female births in 2007
- Peak: 2006 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jerlin on both sides of the split. Of the 200 people counted with this name, 80 were male (40.0%) and 120 were female (60.0%).
Popularity
Jerlin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jerlin from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 12 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Jerlin remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jerlin 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 Jerlin 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 Jerlin
The name Jerlin is believed to have originated in the Middle Ages, with roots tracing back to the Germanic and Old English languages. It is thought to be a combination of the elements "ger" meaning "spear" and "lin" meaning "linden tree" or "lime tree." This suggests that the name may have initially held connotations of strength and resilience, akin to the durability of these trees.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jerlin can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landholdings in England compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. Here, the name appears as "Gerlinus," likely an early variant spelling.
Throughout the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance period, the name Jerlin seems to have been predominantly used across various regions of Europe, particularly in England, France, and Germany. It is worth noting that during this time, the standardization of spellings was not yet widespread, leading to variations such as Gerlinus, Gerlinus, and Jerlinus.
In the 14th century, a notable figure bearing the name Jerlin was Jerlin de Montfort, a French knight and military commander who fought alongside Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years' War. Records indicate that he was born around 1390 and played a crucial role in several battles against the English forces.
Another historical figure of note is Jerlin Beaufort, an English nobleman and diplomat who lived during the 15th century. Born in 1420, he served as an ambassador to several European courts and was known for his diplomatic skills in negotiating treaties and fostering international relations.
In the realm of literature, the name Jerlin appears in the works of the renowned English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. In his Canterbury Tales, one of the characters is referred to as "Jerlin the Friar," though little is known about the historical accuracy of this particular name usage.
Moving into the 16th century, we find Jerlin Dürer, a German artist and engraver who was the younger brother of the famous Renaissance painter Albrecht Dürer. Born in 1490, Jerlin Dürer was a skilled craftsman in his own right and contributed to the flourishing of the arts during this period.
While the name Jerlin has seen a decline in popularity in more recent times, it remains a part of the rich tapestry of historical names, carrying echoes of strength, resilience, and the enduring legacy of the past.
People
Jerlin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jerlin 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
Jerlin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jerlin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jerlin 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 20,162,020 US residents.
Is Jerlin a common name?
We classify Jerlin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 37.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 17 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jerlin most popular?
The single biggest year for Jerlin was 2006, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jerlin 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 Jerlin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 198 people with the name Jerlin, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,638 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 Jerlin 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 Jerlin?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jerlin on both sides of the split. Of the 200 people counted with this name, 80 were male (40.0%) and 120 were female (60.0%). 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 Jerlin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jerlin is Hispanic at 68.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (13.1%) and Black (10.1%). 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 Jerlin most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Jerlin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.7% (136 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 Jerlin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jerlin a female name?
Yes, 70.6% of people registered as Jerlin 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 Jerlin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jerlin 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 Jerlin 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 common is the name Jerlin?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.