Jourdain
From French origin, meaning "flowing stream".
Name Census estimates that about 200 living Americans carry the first name Jourdain. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Jourdain today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jourdain births was 1996 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jourdain. 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 Jourdain with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
200
~ 1 in 1,713,772 Americans
Peak year
1996
25 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2012 SSA rank
#8,490
Tracked since 1984
Census
Jourdain in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 256 people with the first name Jourdain, which placed it at #32,700 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
#32,700
National first-name rank
People counted
256
256 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
39.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jourdain
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jourdain is White at 39.1%. The next largest groups are Black (34.0%) and Hispanic (11.3%). 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 Jourdain 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 Jourdain at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White39.1% · 100
- Black or African American34.0% · 87
- Hispanic or Latino11.3% · 29
- Two or more races9.8% · 25
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Jourdain
Jourdain leans heavily male at 82.4% of total registrations, but 36 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jourdain as a male name
- Ranked #8,490 in 2012
- 9 male births in 2012
- Peak: 1996 (20 births)
Jourdain as a female name
- Ranked #11,693 in 1998
- 7 female births in 1998
- Peak: 1990 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jourdain on both sides of the split. Of the 255 people counted with this name, 191 were male (74.9%) and 64 were female (25.1%).
Popularity
Jourdain: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jourdain from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 134 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
Jourdain 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 Jourdain during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jourdain
The name Jourdain has its origins in the French language and culture. It is a variant of the name Jordan, which is derived from the Ancient Greek name Iordanes, meaning "flowing down" or "descending". This is likely a reference to the Jordan River, a significant waterway in the Middle East.
The name Jordan has Biblical roots and is mentioned in several religious texts, including the Old Testament and the Quran. It is believed to have been popularized in Europe during the time of the Crusades, as many crusaders traveled to the region and brought the name back with them.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Jourdain can be found in the 12th-century French epic poem "The Song of Roland". It mentions a character named Jourdain de Blaive, who was a knight and a vassal of Charlemagne.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the name Jourdain. One of the most famous was Jourdain de Lille (c. 1155-1216), a French philosopher and theologian who served as the Bishop of Acre in the Holy Land during the Crusades.
Another notable Jourdain was Jourdain de Saxe (c. 1190-1237), a Dominican friar and philosopher who played a significant role in the intellectual life of medieval Europe. He was known for his contributions to the study of Aristotelian philosophy.
In the 14th century, there was Jourdain de Blaye (c. 1320-1388), a French nobleman and military leader who fought in the Hundred Years' War. He was known for his bravery and tactical skills on the battlefield.
During the Renaissance period, Jourdain Guibelet (c. 1510-1592) was a French physician and botanist who made significant contributions to the study of medicinal plants and their uses.
Finally, in the 17th century, Jourdain Naude (1630-1692) was a French architect and engineer who designed several notable buildings in Paris, including the Church of Saint-Sulpice.
People
Jourdain + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jourdain 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
Jourdain: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jourdain?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 200 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jourdain 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 1,713,772 US residents.
Is Jourdain a common name?
We classify Jourdain as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 205 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jourdain most popular?
The single biggest year for Jourdain was 1996, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jourdain is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jourdain in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 256 people with the name Jourdain, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,700 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 Jourdain 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 Jourdain?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jourdain on both sides of the split. Of the 255 people counted with this name, 191 were male (74.9%) and 64 were female (25.1%). 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 Jourdain?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jourdain is White at 39.1%. The next largest groups are Black (34.0%) and Hispanic (11.3%). 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 Jourdain most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jourdain in the 2020 Census, accounting for 39.1% (100 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 Jourdain in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jourdain a male name?
Yes, 82.4% of people registered as Jourdain 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 Jourdain still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jourdain 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 Jourdain 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 have Jourdain as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.