Jeter
A French name meaning "to throw, to launch".
Name Census estimates that about 870 living Americans carry the first name Jeter. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jeter today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jeter births was 2015 (70 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jeter. 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.
People living today
870
~ 1 in 393,971 Americans
Peak year
2015
70 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,921
Tracked since 1912
Popularity
Jeter: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jeter from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 433 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jeter remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jeter 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 Jeter during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jeters live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. New York, Utah, Texas recorded the most babies named Jeter, while New Jersey, Florida, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 38 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jeter
The given name Jeter is of French origin, derived from the Old French verb "jeter," meaning "to throw" or "to cast." This name likely emerged during the Middle Ages in France, where it may have been initially used as an occupational surname for someone who worked as a thrower or caster, potentially in a trade such as metalworking or pottery.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jeter can be found in the 13th-century French epic poem "Le Roman de Renart," which features a character named Jeter. This suggests that the name was already in use by that time period.
In the 16th century, a French Protestant reformer named Jean Jeter lived during the time of the Reformation. He was born in 1515 and played a significant role in the spread of Protestant ideas in France.
Another notable figure with the name Jeter was Claude Jeter, a French mathematician and astronomer born in 1598. He made contributions to the development of logarithms and astronomical calculations.
Moving forward in history, a French military officer named Pierre Jeter (1672-1744) served under Louis XIV and played a role in the War of the Spanish Succession.
During the American Revolutionary War, a French-American soldier named Jean-Baptiste Jeter (1749-1824) fought alongside the Continental Army and participated in several key battles, including the Battle of Yorktown.
It's worth noting that while the name Jeter has French origins, it has also been adopted and used in other cultures and languages over time, potentially taking on different meanings or pronunciations in those contexts.
People
Jeter + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jeter 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
Jeter: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jeter?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 870 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jeter 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 393,971 US residents.
Is Jeter a common name?
We classify Jeter as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,021 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jeter most popular?
The single biggest year for Jeter was 2015, when 70 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jeter is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Jeter a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jeter 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.
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.