Jesper
Scandinavian baby name meaning "bearer of treasures" or "harvest giver".
Name Census estimates that about 218 living Americans carry the first name Jesper. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jesper today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jesper births was 2023 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jesper. 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 Jesper with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
218
~ 1 in 1,572,268 Americans
Peak year
2023
26 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,124
Tracked since 1979
Census
Jesper in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 493 people with the first name Jesper, which placed it at #20,821 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
#20,821
National first-name rank
People counted
493
493 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jesper
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jesper is White at 78.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (11.8%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Jesper 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 Jesper at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.5% · 387
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.8% · 58
- Two or more races3.9% · 19
- Black or African American3.4% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 4
Popularity
Jesper: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jesper from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 86 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jesper 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 Jesper during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jespers live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jesper
The name Jesper originates from the Scandinavian languages, particularly Danish and Swedish. It is a masculine given name derived from the Old Norse name Gesper or Gøssur, which is believed to be a compound of the elements "geis" meaning "hostage" and "herr" meaning "army" or "warrior."
In the Middle Ages, the name Jesper was relatively common in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Its earliest recorded use dates back to the 13th century, appearing in Danish and Swedish historical records and chronicles of that time period.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Jesper was Jesper Bryniulfsen, a Norwegian nobleman and military commander who lived in the late 13th century. He played a significant role in the Norwegian-Swedish conflicts of that era.
Another notable historical figure with the name Jesper was Jesper Krafse, a Danish nobleman and admiral who lived from around 1480 to 1548. He served as an admiral in the Danish navy and was involved in several naval battles against Sweden and the Hanseatic League.
In the 16th century, Jesper Rasmussen Brochmand (1585-1652) was a Danish Lutheran bishop and theologian who made significant contributions to the development of the Danish Lutheran Church.
Jesper Swedenborg (1653-1735) was a Swedish inventor and scientist who developed several mining technologies and techniques. He was the older brother of the renowned philosopher and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg.
Jesper Monrad (1839-1920) was a Danish politician and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Denmark from 1908 to 1909.
While the name Jesper has its roots in Scandinavia, it has also been adopted and used in various other cultures and languages over time, particularly in areas with historical ties to the Nordic regions.
People
Jesper + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jesper 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
Jesper: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jesper?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 218 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jesper 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 1,572,268 US residents.
Is Jesper a common name?
We classify Jesper as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 220 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jesper most popular?
The single biggest year for Jesper was 2023, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jesper is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jesper in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 493 people with the name Jesper, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,821 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 Jesper 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 Jesper?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jesper leans strongly male. 479 people counted with this name were male (97.8%), compared with 11 female bearers (2.2%). 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 Jesper?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jesper is White at 78.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (11.8%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Jesper most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jesper in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.5% (387 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 Jesper in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jesper a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jesper 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 Jesper still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jesper 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 Jesper 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 share the name Jesper?
Find out how many people have the name Jesper on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.