Jery
An English masculine name of uncertain origin, possibly derived from French.
Name Census estimates that about 91 living Americans carry the first name Jery. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jery today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jery births was 1960 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jery. 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 Jery. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
91
~ 1 in 3,766,531 Americans
Peak year
1960
10 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
1992 SSA rank
#9,038
Tracked since 1936
Census
Jery in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 468 people with the first name Jery, which placed it at #21,612 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
#21,612
National first-name rank
People counted
468
468 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jery
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jery is White at 50.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.8%) and Black (9.8%). 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 Jery 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 Jery at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.6% · 237
- Hispanic or Latino28.8% · 135
- Black or African American9.8% · 46
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.5% · 40
- Two or more races1.7% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 2
Popularity
Jery: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jery from the 1930s through to the 1990s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 36 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jery 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 Jery 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 Jery
The name Jery has its origins in the Old French language, originating in the medieval period around the 12th century. It is derived from the Germanic root name "Geri," which means "spear" or "lance." This name was popular among the Frankish and Norman nobility during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Jery can be found in the chronicles of the Crusades, where a knight named Jery de Montfort was mentioned as a participant in the Third Crusade, which took place from 1189 to 1192 AD. This historical reference provides evidence of the name's existence and usage during that time period.
In the 14th century, a renowned French poet named Jery de Vitry gained recognition for his works, which included love poems and satires. He was born around 1290 and lived until approximately 1361. His literary contributions helped to further popularize the name Jery within the French-speaking regions.
During the Renaissance period, a notable figure named Jery Falstaff, born in 1465, was a renowned English playwright and actor. He is believed to have been one of the inspirations for the character of Sir John Falstaff in William Shakespeare's plays, particularly in the Henriad.
In the 18th century, a famous French philosopher and mathematician, Jery Condorcet, born in 1743, made significant contributions to the fields of mathematics, political theory, and social philosophy. His works, such as the "Essai sur l'application de l'analyse à la probabilité des décisions rendues à la pluralité des voix," had a lasting impact on the development of rational choice theory.
Another historical figure bearing the name Jery was Jery Gershwin, born in 1898, an American composer and pianist who was instrumental in popularizing the genre of jazz and musical theater. His compositions, such as "Rhapsody in Blue" and the opera "Porgy and Bess," are considered masterpieces of American music.
While the name Jery has its roots in the Old French language and was prevalent in medieval Europe, it has since spread to various cultures and regions, with individuals bearing this name making significant contributions across different fields throughout history.
People
Jery + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jery 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
Jery: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jery?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 91 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jery 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 3,766,531 US residents.
Is Jery a common name?
We classify Jery as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 116 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jery most popular?
The single biggest year for Jery was 1960, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jery is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jery in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 468 people with the name Jery, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,612 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 Jery 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 Jery?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jery leans strongly male. 410 people counted with this name were male (87.6%), compared with 58 female bearers (12.4%). 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 Jery?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jery is White at 50.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.8%) and Black (9.8%). 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 Jery most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jery in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.6% (237 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 Jery in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jery a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jery 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 Jery still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jery 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 Jery 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 Jery?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.