Jerusha
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "possessed" or "has inherited".
Name Census estimates that about 970 living Americans carry the first name Jerusha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jerusha today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jerusha births was 1975 (52 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jerusha. 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 Jerusha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
970
~ 1 in 353,355 Americans
Peak year
1975
52 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,178
Tracked since 1882
Census
Jerusha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,023 people with the first name Jerusha, which placed it at #12,227 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
#12,227
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,023 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jerusha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jerusha is White at 56.2%. The next largest groups are Black (19.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.2%). 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 Jerusha 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 Jerusha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.2% · 575
- Black or African American19.5% · 199
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.2% · 115
- Two or more races6.7% · 69
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 49
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 16
Popularity
Jerusha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jerusha from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 297 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
Jerusha 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 Jerusha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jerushas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Georgia, Texas recorded the most babies named Jerusha, while Utah, Texas, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 15 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jerusha
Jerusha is a feminine given name with Hebrew origins, derived from the biblical name Yerushalayim, the Hebrew name for Jerusalem. The name can be traced back to ancient times, with its roots in the Hebrew language and Jewish culture.
The name Yerushalayim is believed to have originated from the Hebrew words "yarah" and "shalom," meaning "to found" and "peace," respectively. Thus, the name Jerusha carries the essence of a peaceful foundation or a city of peace, reflecting the significance of Jerusalem as a holy city in Jewish tradition.
Jerusha is mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible, specifically in the Book of Jeremiah, where it refers to Jerusalem. This biblical reference contributes to the name's association with religious and historical contexts within Judaism and Christianity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jerusha can be found in the 17th century, when Jerusha Tapping (1631-1679) was born in England. She later immigrated to New England and became one of the founders of the town of Newbury, Massachusetts.
In the 18th century, Jerusha Tuthill (1718-1791) was a notable American author and poet from New Haven, Connecticut. She wrote on religious and moral themes, reflecting the influence of her Puritan upbringing.
Another historical figure with this name was Jerusha Wilkinson (1760-1843), an American preacher and leader of a religious movement known as the "Wilkinsonians." She was born in Rhode Island and gained a significant following in her lifetime.
In the 19th century, Jerusha Lamson (1824-1878) was an American teacher and writer from Massachusetts. She authored several works, including "The Life and Religion of the Hindoos" and "The Philosophy of Sacred Scripture."
Jerusha Beall (1850-1929) was an American educator and suffragist from Ohio. She was actively involved in the women's suffrage movement and served as the president of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association.
While the name Jerusha has been less common in recent times, it remains a unique and meaningful choice, carrying a rich historical and cultural heritage rooted in ancient Hebrew language and traditions.
People
Jerusha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jerusha 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
Jerusha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jerusha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 970 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jerusha 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 353,355 US residents.
Is Jerusha a common name?
We classify Jerusha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,189 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jerusha most popular?
The single biggest year for Jerusha was 1975, when 52 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jerusha 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 Jerusha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,023 people with the name Jerusha, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,227 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 Jerusha 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 Jerusha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jerusha appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,022 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Jerusha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jerusha is White at 56.2%. The next largest groups are Black (19.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.2%). 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 Jerusha most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jerusha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.2% (575 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 Jerusha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jerusha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jerusha 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 Jerusha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jerusha 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 Jerusha 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 named Jerusha?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.