Judd
A short name meaning "praised" or "he shall be praised".
Name Census estimates that about 4,795 living Americans carry the first name Judd. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Judd today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Judd births was 1970 (158 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Judd. 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 Judd with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.8K
~ 1 in 71,482 Americans
Peak year
1970
158 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,410
Tracked since 1880
Census
Judd in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,330 people with the first name Judd, which placed it at #4,351 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
#4,351
National first-name rank
People counted
4.3K
4,330 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
91.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Judd
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Judd is White at 91.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.0%). 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 Judd 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 Judd at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.7% · 3,970
- Two or more races2.5% · 110
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 87
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 85
- Black or African American1.1% · 48
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 30
Popularity
Judd: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Judd from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 1,181 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Judd remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Judd 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 Judd during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Judds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 30 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Judd, while Washington, North Dakota, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 56 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Judd
The name Judd has its origins in the Middle English period, derived from the name Judde, which was a diminutive form of the name Judas. The name Judas itself is ultimately derived from the Hebrew name Judah, meaning "praised." While the name Judas is associated with Judas Iscariot in the New Testament, the name Judah has more positive connotations in the Old Testament as one of the sons of Jacob and the ancestor of the tribe of Judah.
The earliest known use of the name Judd dates back to the 13th century in England, where it was sometimes spelled as Judde or Jud. It was a relatively common name among the English during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Judd was Sir Andrew Judd (c. 1492-1558), an English merchant and philanthropist who founded the Tonbridge School in Kent, England. Another notable figure was John Judd (c. 1585-1659), an English clergyman and author who served as the Bishop of Winchester.
In the 17th century, Judd became a more established surname, particularly in the United States. One of the earliest Americans with the name was Thomas Judd (1608-1688), an early settler of Cambridge, Massachusetts. His descendants included William Judd (1766-1804), a Revolutionary War soldier who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
In the 19th century, Judd gained some prominence as a first name. One notable bearer was Sylvester Judd (1789-1860), an American novelist and editor who published the popular novel "Margaret: A Tale of the Real and Ideal." Another was Norman B. Judd (1815-1878), a prominent American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. Senator from Illinois.
In the 20th century, the name Judd was associated with several notable individuals, including the British actor Judd Trichett (1907-1992), known for his roles in films such as "The Man in the White Suit" and "The Ladykillers." Another was Judd Hirsch (born 1935), an American actor best known for his roles in the TV series "Taxi" and "Dear John."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Judd
People
Judd + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Judd 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
Judd: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Judd?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,795 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Judd 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 71,482 US residents.
Is Judd a common name?
We classify Judd as "Rare". It ranks above 96.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,650 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Judd most popular?
The single biggest year for Judd was 1970, when 158 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Judd is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Judd in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,330 people with the name Judd, or 1.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,351 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 Judd 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 Judd?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Judd appears almost entirely male. Of the 4,329 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Judd?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Judd is White at 91.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.0%). 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 Judd most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Judd in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.7% (3,970 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 Judd in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Judd a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Judd 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 Judd still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Judd 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 Judd 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 Americans are named Judd?
See how many Americans are named Judd on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.