Jermaine
A male name of French origin meaning "germane" or "akin".
Name Census estimates that about 40,885 living Americans carry the first name Jermaine. It is a predominantly male name (97.7% of registrations). The average person named Jermaine today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jermaine births was 1973 (2,097 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jermaine. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Jermaine with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jermaine is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 967 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
41K
~ 1 in 8,383 Americans
Peak year
1973
2,097 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,466
Tracked since 1923
Census
Jermaine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 31,134 people with the first name Jermaine, which placed it at #1,230 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
#1,230
National first-name rank
People counted
31K
31,134 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
10.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
87.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jermaine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jermaine is Black at 87.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.6%) and Hispanic (4.0%). 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 Jermaine 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 Jermaine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American87.8% · 27,347
- Two or more races4.6% · 1,445
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 1,245
- White1.9% · 578
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 323
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 196
Gender
Gender distribution for Jermaine
Jermaine leans heavily male at 97.7% of total registrations, but 967 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jermaine as a male name
- Ranked #1,466 in 2024
- 123 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1973 (2,038 births)
Jermaine as a female name
- Ranked #17,634 in 2005
- 5 female births in 2005
- Peak: 1972 (77 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jermaine leans strongly male. 30,651 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 488 female bearers (1.6%).
Popularity
Jermaine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jermaine from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 13,994 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jermaine 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 Jermaine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jermaines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. New York, Florida, Illinois recorded the most babies named Jermaine, while Rhode Island, Hawaii, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 985 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jermaine
The name Jermaine is derived from the French name Germain, which in turn comes from the Latin name Germanus, meaning "brother" or "born of the same parents." The name has its roots in ancient Rome and was initially used to refer to people who were related by blood or shared a close familial bond.
In the early days of Christianity, the name Germanus gained popularity among the faithful as it was borne by several early Christian saints and martyrs. One of the most notable figures was Saint Germain of Auxerre, a 5th-century bishop and theologian who played a crucial role in the spread of Christianity in Gaul (modern-day France).
The name Jermaine emerged as a variant of Germain in the English-speaking world, likely influenced by the French pronunciation and spelling. Over time, it became a distinct name in its own right, with its own unique spellings and cultural associations.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jermaine can be found in the 16th century, when it was used by English aristocrats and gentry. Jermaine Harrington, born in 1585, was a member of the landed gentry in Gloucestershire, England, and is considered one of the earliest known bearers of the name.
In the 20th century, the name Jermaine gained widespread popularity, particularly in the United States. Several notable figures bore the name, including Jermaine Jackson (born 1954), a member of the famous Jackson family and former member of the Jackson 5 music group. Jermaine Dye (born 1974) was a professional baseball player who won the World Series with the Boston Red Sox in 2007.
Other historical figures with the name Jermaine include Jermaine Dupri (born 1972), an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer; Jermaine O'Neal (born 1978), a former professional basketball player; and Jermaine Defoe (born 1982), an English professional footballer who has played for several Premier League clubs.
While the name Jermaine has its roots in ancient Rome and early Christianity, it has evolved over the centuries and taken on new meanings and cultural associations. Today, it is a popular name across many cultures and is often associated with strength, resilience, and a connection to one's roots.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jermaine
People
Jermaine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jermaine 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
Jermaine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jermaine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 40,885 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jermaine 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 8,383 US residents.
Is Jermaine a common name?
We classify Jermaine as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 42,874 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jermaine most popular?
The single biggest year for Jermaine was 1973, when 2,097 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jermaine is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jermaine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 31,134 people with the name Jermaine, or 10.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,230 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 Jermaine 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 Jermaine?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jermaine leans strongly male. 30,651 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 488 female bearers (1.6%). 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 Jermaine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jermaine is Black at 87.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.6%) and Hispanic (4.0%). 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 Jermaine most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jermaine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.8% (27,347 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 Jermaine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jermaine a male name?
Yes, 97.7% of people registered as Jermaine 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 Jermaine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jermaine 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 Jermaine 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 are called Jermaine?
Want to know how many people share the name Jermaine? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.