Jettie
A diminutive of Jett, a pet name for someone lively or energetic.
Name Census estimates that about 788 living Americans carry the first name Jettie. It is a predominantly female name (94.9% of registrations). The average person named Jettie today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jettie births was 1918 (109 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jettie. 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
- • The typical person named Jettie is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Jetties were born before 1970.
People living today
788
~ 1 in 434,967 Americans
Peak year
1918
109 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
1979 SSA rank
#6,505
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Jettie
Jettie leans heavily female at 94.9% of total registrations, but 197 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jettie as a male name
- Ranked #6,505 in 1979
- 5 male births in 1979
- Peak: 1913 (10 births)
Jettie as a female name
- Ranked #14,198 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (103 births)
Popularity
Jettie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jettie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 776 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jettie 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 Jettie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jetties live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. Alabama, North Carolina, Texas recorded the most babies named Jettie, while West Virginia, Oklahoma, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 108 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jettie
The given name Jettie is believed to have originated as a diminutive form of the French name Jette, which itself is a pet name or nickname derived from the Germanic name Guda. The name Guda is composed of the elements "gud" meaning "god" and the diminutive suffix "-a". This suggests that Jettie has its roots in ancient Germanic languages and cultures, possibly dating back to the early medieval period.
The earliest recorded use of the name Jettie can be traced back to the late 19th century in parts of Europe, particularly in France and the Netherlands. It is worth noting that during this time, the name was more commonly spelled as "Jettje" or "Jetje" in Dutch-speaking regions.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Jettie was Jettie Posthuma, a Dutch writer and journalist born in 1868 in the Netherlands. She was known for her contributions to various Dutch publications and her advocacy for women's rights.
Another notable figure named Jettie was Jettie Jansen, a Dutch painter and illustrator born in 1881. Her works often depicted scenes from daily life and were widely acclaimed for their realism and attention to detail.
In the United States, the name Jettie gained some popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly among families with Dutch or French ancestry. One notable American with this name was Jettie Fay Woodruff, born in 1876, who was a prominent educator and advocate for women's education in the state of Texas.
Another individual worth mentioning is Jettie Deering, an American philanthropist and socialite born in 1870. She was known for her contributions to various charitable organizations and her support for the arts and cultural institutions in her hometown of Chicago.
Finally, Jettie Spencer was an American singer and actress born in 1889. She had a successful career on the vaudeville stage and appeared in several Broadway productions in the early 20th century.
While the name Jettie may not be as widely used today as it once was, its origins can be traced back to ancient Germanic roots, and it has been borne by several notable individuals throughout history, particularly in Europe and the United States.
People
Jettie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jettie 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
Jettie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jettie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 788 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jettie 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 434,967 US residents.
Is Jettie a common name?
We classify Jettie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,853 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jettie most popular?
The single biggest year for Jettie was 1918, when 109 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jettie is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Jettie a female name?
Yes, 94.9% of people registered as Jettie 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.
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.