Jil
A feminine name of English origin meaning "youthful, young woman".
Name Census estimates that about 434 living Americans carry the first name Jil. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jil today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jil births was 1957 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jil. 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
434
~ 1 in 789,757 Americans
Peak year
1957
36 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
2002 SSA rank
#16,625
Tracked since 1945
Census
Jil in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 977 people with the first name Jil, which placed it at #12,661 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
#12,661
National first-name rank
People counted
977
977 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jil
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jil is White at 79.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.7%) and Hispanic (6.0%). 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 Jil 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 Jil at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.1% · 773
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.7% · 75
- Hispanic or Latino6.0% · 59
- Black or African American4.8% · 47
- Two or more races2.3% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Jil: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jil from the 1940s through to the 2000s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 208 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
Jil 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 Jil during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jils live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jil
The name Jil is believed to have originated from the Hebrew language. It is a shortened form of the name Gillian, which itself is derived from the French name Gillette, a diminutive of the masculine name Giles. The name Giles is thought to come from the Greek name Aegidius, which means "young goat" or "kid."
Jil was not a common name in ancient times, and there are no known references to it in historical texts or religious scriptures from that era. The earliest recorded instances of the name Jil appear to be from the Middle Ages in Europe.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Jil was Jil de Toul, a French sculptor who lived in the 13th century. He is renowned for his work on the Strasbourg Cathedral, which includes intricate stone carvings and architectural details.
Another notable figure was Jil Muaka, a 14th-century merchant and explorer from the Republic of Venice. He is credited with establishing trade routes between Europe and parts of Asia, contributing to the expansion of the Venetian Republic's commercial empire.
In the 15th century, Jil de Bretigny was a French noblewoman and patron of the arts. She commissioned several works of art and literature, helping to support and promote the artistic culture of the Renaissance period in France.
During the 16th century, Jil van Hout was a Dutch painter known for his religious and mythological works. His paintings were highly regarded and can be found in various museums and collections across Europe.
In the 17th century, Jil Sobieski was a Polish noble and military leader. She played a significant role in the defense of her country during the Polish-Ottoman War, and her bravery and strategic skills were widely celebrated.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who bore the name Jil. While not as common as some other names, Jil has a long and varied history, appearing across different cultures and periods.
People
Jil + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jil 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
Jil: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jil?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 434 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jil 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 789,757 US residents.
Is Jil a common name?
We classify Jil as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 559 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jil most popular?
The single biggest year for Jil was 1957, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jil is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jil in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 977 people with the name Jil, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,661 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 Jil 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 Jil?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jil leans strongly female. 892 people counted with this name were female (91.6%), compared with 82 male bearers (8.4%). 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 Jil?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jil is White at 79.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.7%) and Hispanic (6.0%). 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 Jil most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jil in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.1% (773 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 Jil in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jil a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jil 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.
Is Jil still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jil 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 Jil 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 Jil?
Find out how many Americans are named Jil on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.