Jordon
A unisex name of Hebrew origin meaning "flowing down" or "descending".
Name Census estimates that about 14,929 living Americans carry the first name Jordon. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.2% of registrations being male. The average person named Jordon today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jordon births was 1991 (849 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jordon. 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 Jordon with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
15K
~ 1 in 22,959 Americans
Peak year
1991
849 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,288
Tracked since 1888
Census
Jordon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 12,180 people with the first name Jordon, which placed it at #2,175 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
#2,175
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
12,180 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jordon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jordon is White at 60.7%. The next largest groups are Black (20.1%) and Hispanic (8.7%). 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 Jordon 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 Jordon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.7% · 7,390
- Black or African American20.1% · 2,443
- Hispanic or Latino8.7% · 1,058
- Two or more races7.3% · 888
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 227
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 174
Gender
Gender distribution for Jordon
Jordon leans heavily male at 88.2% of total registrations, but 1,846 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jordon as a male name
- Ranked #3,288 in 2024
- 36 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1991 (716 births)
Jordon as a female name
- Ranked #16,210 in 2020
- 5 female births in 2020
- Peak: 1991 (133 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jordon leans strongly male. 10,621 people counted with this name were male (87.2%), compared with 1,558 female bearers (12.8%).
Popularity
Jordon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jordon from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 6,720 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
Jordon 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 Jordon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jordons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 44 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Jordon, while Vermont, Montana, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 261 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jordon
The given name Jordon has its origins in the Ancient Greek language and can be traced back to the 5th century BC. It is derived from the Greek word "Ιορδάνης" (Iordanes), which means "flowing down" or "descending". This name was originally associated with the Jordan River, which flows through modern-day Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories.
The name Jordon is closely related to the Hebrew name "Yarden", which also refers to the Jordan River. In the Bible, the Jordan River is mentioned numerous times, particularly in the Old Testament, as it played a significant role in the Israelites' journey to the Promised Land. The river is also the site where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, according to the New Testament.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jordon dates back to the 6th century AD, when a Byzantine monk known as Jordanes wrote a history of the Goths, titled "De Origine Actibusque Getarum" (The Origin and Deeds of the Goths). This work is considered a valuable source of information about the migration of Germanic tribes in the late Roman Empire.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures bearing the name Jordon. In the 12th century, Jordanus Nemorarius, a German mathematician and philosopher, made significant contributions to the field of mathematics and is credited with introducing the concepts of coordinate geometry and algebraic notation.
Another famous individual with the name Jordon was Jordanus Rufus, a 13th-century Franciscan friar and mathematician from Normandy, France. He wrote influential works on algebra and arithmetic, including the "Arithmetica", which was widely used as a textbook in medieval universities.
In the realm of sports, Jordon had its moment in the spotlight with the legendary basketball player Michael Jordan (born 1963). His remarkable career, which spanned from 1984 to 2003, earned him numerous accolades, including six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls and numerous MVP awards.
Another notable figure with the name Jordon was Camille Jordane (1838-1922), a French novelist and playwright. She wrote several novels and plays that explored social issues and women's rights during the late 19th century in France.
The name Jordon has also been borne by other individuals throughout history, such as Jordon Rowe (1713-1792), an American soldier and politician who served as the third Governor of Virginia, and Jordon Crandell (1836-1918), a Union Army soldier during the American Civil War and later a U.S. Congressman from Nevada.
People
Jordon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jordon 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
Jordon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jordon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 14,929 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jordon 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 22,959 US residents.
Is Jordon a common name?
We classify Jordon as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15,581 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jordon most popular?
The single biggest year for Jordon was 1991, when 849 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jordon is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jordon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 12,180 people with the name Jordon, or 4.03 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,175 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 Jordon 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 Jordon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jordon leans strongly male. 10,621 people counted with this name were male (87.2%), compared with 1,558 female bearers (12.8%). 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 Jordon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jordon is White at 60.7%. The next largest groups are Black (20.1%) and Hispanic (8.7%). 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 Jordon most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jordon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.7% (7,390 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 Jordon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jordon a male name?
Yes, 88.2% of people registered as Jordon 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 Jordon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jordon 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 Jordon 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 are called Jordon?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.