Jetson
A masculine name derived from the English word "jet", suggesting speed or modernity.
Name Census estimates that about 717 living Americans carry the first name Jetson. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jetson today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jetson births was 2023 (116 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jetson. 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 Jetson with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
717
~ 1 in 478,040 Americans
Peak year
2023
116 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,883
Tracked since 1915
Census
Jetson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 404 people with the first name Jetson, which placed it at #24,004 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
#24,004
National first-name rank
People counted
404
404 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jetson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jetson is White at 56.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.3%) and Black (11.6%). 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 Jetson 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 Jetson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.9% · 230
- Hispanic or Latino16.3% · 66
- Black or African American11.6% · 47
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.7% · 31
- Two or more races6.9% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
Popularity
Jetson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jetson from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 411 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
Jetson 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 Jetson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jetsons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Jetson, while Oklahoma, Michigan, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jetson
The given name Jetson is believed to have originated from the Old English word "jette", which means "to project" or "to protrude". This name likely emerged in the medieval period, around the 11th or 12th century, in the regions of what is now England and parts of northern Europe.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Jetson can be found in the Domesday Book, a detailed survey of land ownership and resources in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The entry "Jetson de Elmswell" is listed as a landowner in the village of Elmswell, Suffolk.
In the 13th century, a renowned English philosopher and scholar named Jetson of Salisbury (c. 1200 - 1265) was known for his contributions to the study of logic and metaphysics. His writings and teachings had a significant influence on the intellectual discourse of that era.
During the Renaissance period, a notable figure named Jetson Petrucci (1466 - 1539) was a prominent Italian printer and publisher based in Venice. He is credited with introducing the italic typeface, which revolutionized the printing industry and influenced the development of modern typography.
In the 17th century, Jetson Cromwell (1623 - 1667), a distant cousin of Oliver Cromwell, was a military commander who fought alongside Cromwell's forces during the English Civil War. He played a crucial role in several key battles and was known for his bravery and strategic acumen.
Another notable figure bearing the name Jetson was the French explorer and cartographer, Jetson Delisle (1675 - 1726). His detailed maps and geographical surveys of North America and the Mississippi River basin were instrumental in expanding the knowledge and understanding of the continent's interior regions during that time.
These are just a few examples of historical figures who bore the given name Jetson, showcasing its presence and significance across various periods and regions throughout history.
People
Jetson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jetson 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
Jetson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jetson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 717 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jetson 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 478,040 US residents.
Is Jetson a common name?
We classify Jetson as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 727 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jetson most popular?
The single biggest year for Jetson was 2023, when 116 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jetson is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jetson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 404 people with the name Jetson, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,004 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 Jetson 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 Jetson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jetson leans strongly male. 405 people counted with this name were male (97.4%), compared with 11 female bearers (2.6%). 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 Jetson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jetson is White at 56.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.3%) and Black (11.6%). 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 Jetson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jetson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.9% (230 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 Jetson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jetson a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jetson 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 Jetson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jetson 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 Jetson 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 common is the name Jetson?
See how many Americans are named Jetson on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.