Jonte
A variant of the Dutch masculine name Joannes meaning "Yahweh is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 1,437 living Americans carry the first name Jonte. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 84.7% of registrations being male. The average person named Jonte today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jonte births was 1997 (78 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jonte. 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
1.4K
~ 1 in 238,521 Americans
Peak year
1997
78 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,322
Tracked since 1977
Gender
Gender distribution for Jonte
Jonte leans heavily male at 84.7% of total registrations, but 226 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jonte as a male name
- Ranked #10,322 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1997 (67 births)
Jonte as a female name
- Ranked #14,343 in 2001
- 6 female births in 2001
- Peak: 1988 (23 births)
Popularity
Jonte: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jonte from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 539 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jonte 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 Jonte during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jontes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. California, Illinois, Texas recorded the most babies named Jonte, while Michigan, Indiana, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jonte
The given name Jonte has its origins in the Scandinavian region, particularly in Sweden and Norway. It is believed to have derived from the Old Norse name Jónati, which itself stems from the Hebrew name Jonathan, meaning "God has given" or "gift from God."
The earliest recorded instances of the name Jonte can be traced back to the 16th century in Sweden, where it was primarily used as a Swedish form of the biblical name Jonathan. However, the name's popularity and usage were relatively limited during that time period.
One of the earliest known historical figures bearing the name Jonte was Jonte Andersson, a Swedish farmer and landowner who lived in the late 16th century in the province of Småland. Historical records indicate that he was a prominent figure in his local community and played a significant role in the development of agriculture in the region.
In the 17th century, the name Jonte gained more widespread recognition in Sweden, particularly among the upper classes and nobility. Jonte Eriksson, a Swedish nobleman and military officer who served under King Gustav II Adolf during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), was a notable figure of this era.
As the name spread across Scandinavia, it also found its way into Norwegian culture. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name in Norway dates back to the late 17th century, with Jonte Olsen, a Norwegian farmer and landowner from the Telemark region.
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the name Jonte continued to be used in both Sweden and Norway, albeit with varying degrees of popularity. Jonte Pedersson, a Swedish artist and painter born in 1765, was a prominent figure during this period, known for his landscapes and portraits depicting the rural life of his time.
In Norway, Jonte Olsen Gausen, a Norwegian explorer and adventurer born in 1839, gained fame for his expeditions to the Arctic regions and his contributions to the mapping and exploration of Svalbard and other northern territories.
While the name Jonte has remained relatively uncommon in modern times, it has maintained a strong cultural connection to its Scandinavian roots and continues to be used, particularly in Sweden and Norway, as a nod to its rich historical heritage.
People
Jonte + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jonte 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
Jonte: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jonte?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,437 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jonte 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 238,521 US residents.
Is Jonte a common name?
We classify Jonte as "Rare". It ranks above 92.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,479 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jonte most popular?
The single biggest year for Jonte was 1997, when 78 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jonte is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Jonte a male name?
Yes, 84.7% of people registered as Jonte 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.