Judy
Feminine diminutive form of the name Judith, meaning "praised" in Hebrew.
Name Census estimates that about 225,493 living Americans carry the first name Judy. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Judy today is around 71 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Judy births was 1947 (21,072 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Judy. 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 Judy with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Judy is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,094 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Judy is about 71 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Judys were born before 1965.
- • Compared to the 1940s, recent registration numbers for Judy have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
225K
~ 1 in 1,520 Americans
Peak year
1947
21,072 babies that year
Average age
71
years old
1988 SSA rank
#1,653
Tracked since 1880
Census
Judy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 281,131 people with the first name Judy, which placed it at #187 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
#187
National first-name rank
People counted
281K
281,131 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
93.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Judy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Judy is White at 84.6%. The next largest groups are Black (4.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.1%). 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 Judy 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 Judy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.6% · 237,920
- Black or African American4.8% · 13,420
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 11,666
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 10,585
- Two or more races2.0% · 5,715
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1,825
Gender
Gender distribution for Judy
Out of the 383,965 babies given the name Judy since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Judy as a male name
- Ranked #6,836 in 1988
- 6 male births in 1988
- Peak: 1941 (65 births)
Judy as a female name
- Ranked #1,653 in 2024
- 124 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1947 (21,036 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Judy appears almost entirely female. Of the 281,131 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Judy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Judy from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 168,201 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Judy 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 Judy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Judys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Judy, while Alaska, Delaware, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7,428 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Judy
The name Judy is a diminutive form of the name Judith, which has its origins in the Hebrew language. Judith is derived from the Hebrew name "Yehudit," which means "woman from Judea" or "Jewish woman." The name Judith first appears in the Old Testament book of the same name, which tells the story of a beautiful Jewish widow who saves her people by decapitating the Assyrian general Holofernes.
The earliest recorded use of the name Judy dates back to the 16th century in England. It was a common diminutive of Judith during this time period and grew in popularity as a stand-alone name in the following centuries. One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Judy was Judy Garland, an American actress and singer born in 1922, best known for her role as Dorothy Gale in the classic film "The Wizard of Oz."
Another famous Judy was Judy Holliday, an American actress and comedian born in 1921, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1950 film "Born Yesterday." Judy Blume, born in 1938, is a renowned American author of children's and young adult literature, known for her groundbreaking and honest depictions of adolescent experiences.
Judy Greer, born in 1975, is an American actress and director who has appeared in numerous films and television shows, including "Arrested Development," "13 Going on 30," and "Ant-Man." Judy Chicago, born in 1939, is an American feminist artist, educator, and writer, best known for her iconic installation "The Dinner Party," which celebrates women's achievements throughout history.
Throughout its history, the name Judy has maintained a warm and friendly connotation, often associated with a down-to-earth and approachable personality. It has been popular across various cultures and regions, transcending its Hebrew origins and becoming a beloved name in many parts of the world.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Judy
People
Judy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Judy 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
Judy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Judy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 225,493 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Judy 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 1,520 US residents.
Is Judy a common name?
We classify Judy as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 383,965 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Judy most popular?
The single biggest year for Judy was 1947, when 21,072 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Judy is about 71 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Judy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 281,131 people with the name Judy, or 93.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #187 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 Judy 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 Judy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Judy appears almost entirely female. Of the 281,131 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Judy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Judy is White at 84.6%. The next largest groups are Black (4.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.1%). 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 Judy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Judy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.6% (237,920 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 Judy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Judy a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Judy 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 Judy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Judy 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 Judy 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 Judy?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.