How popular is the baby name Jordan in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Jordan.

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Popularity of the baby name Jordan


Posts that mention the name Jordan

Popular baby names in the United States, 2012

Flag of the United States
Flag of the United States

The #1 names in the nation are still Jacob and Sophia!

Here are the full top 50 lists:

Boy NamesGirl Names
1. Jacob, 18899
2. Mason, 18856
3. Ethan, 17547
4. Noah, 17201
5. William, 16726
6. Liam, 16687
7. Jayden, 16013
8. Michael, 15996
9. Alexander, 15105
10. Aiden, 14779
11. Daniel, 14143
12. Matthew, 13834
13. Elijah, 13719
14. James, 13271
15. Anthony, 13105
16. Benjamin, 12695
17. Joshua, 12522
18. Andrew, 12501
19. David, 12422
20. Joseph, 12404
21. Logan, 12390
22. Jackson, 12388
23. Christopher, 11777
24. Gabriel, 11442
25. Samuel, 11290
26. Ryan, 10863
27. Lucas, 10616
28. John, 10505
29. Nathan, 10357
30. Isaac, 9928
31. Dylan, 9920
32. Caleb, 9867
33. Christian, 9530
34. Landon, 9296
35. Jonathan, 9253
36. Carter, 9202
37. Luke, 8922
38. Owen, 8630
39. Brayden, 8451
40. Gavin, 8203
41. Wyatt, 8159
42. Isaiah, 8044
43. Henry, 8006
44. Eli, 7998
45. Hunter, 7967
46. Jack, 7877
47. Evan, 7851
48. Jordan, 7734
49. Nicholas, 7653
50. Tyler, 7628		1. Sophia, 22158
2. Emma, 20791
3. Isabella, 18931
4. Olivia, 17147
5. Ava, 15418
6. Emily, 13550
7. Abigail, 12583
8. Mia, 11940
9. Madison, 11319
10. Elizabeth, 9596
11. Chloe, 9595
12. Ella, 9115
13. Avery, 8272
14. Addison, 8122
15. Aubrey, 8006
16. Lily, 7889
17. Natalie, 7852
18. Sofia, 7767
19. Charlotte, 7418
20. Zoey, 7411
21. Grace, 7304
22. Hannah, 7202
23. Amelia, 7191
24. Harper, 7154
25. Lillian, 7100
26. Samantha, 6874
27. Evelyn, 6837
28. Victoria, 6814
29. Brooklyn, 6728
30. Zoe, 6383
31. Layla, 6227
32. Hailey, 5878
33. Leah, 5724
34. Kaylee, 5571
35. Anna, 5552
36. Aaliyah, 5471
37. Gabriella, 5461
38. Allison, 5387
39. Nevaeh, 5317
40. Alexis, 5306
41. Audrey, 5266
42. Savannah, 5143
43. Sarah, 5107
44. Alyssa, 5054
45. Claire, 4915
46. Taylor, 4825
47. Riley, 4786
48. Camila, 4776
49. Arianna, 4685
50. Ashley, 4678

Liam enters the top 10! 15th last year, 6th this year.

Michael just keeps getting lower and lower.

Avery, on the other hand, keeps rising on the girls’ side — 18th last year, 13th this year.

See any other interesting rises/drops so far?

Update: Here’s more from the SSA’s news release:

Many pop-culture naming trends appear in a popular feature of Social Security’s baby names website–the “change in popularity” page. This year’s winners for biggest jump in popularity in the Top 500 are Major and Arya.

The fastest riser on the girls’ list may have been influenced by the popular cable TV series “Game of Thrones.” Arya is the daughter of a leader of one of the Seven Kingdoms. She also is an expert sword fighter, so doubt her influence on the popular names list at your own risk.

For the boys, parents may associate Major with the military title. Acting Commissioner Colvin added “I have no doubt Major’s rising popularity as a boy’s name is in tribute to the brave members of the U.S. military, and maybe we’ll see more boys named General in the future.” You also might trace Major’s increase in popularity to a cable TV show. “Home by Novogratz” is a popular home design show featuring Major Novogratz, the youngest son of designers Robert and Cortney.

The second fastest riser for boys was Gael, and for girls, Perla. Both names most likely are on the rise due to the increase in the Spanish-speaking population in the United States. Perla is the Latinized version of Pearl and is popular among Hispanic-Americans. Gael’s popularity could be tied to Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal.

Here is last year’s list.

Sources: SSA, Jacob and Sophia Repeat atop Social Security’s Most Popular Baby Names List – SSA

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United States (public domain)

Popular baby names in Jamaica, 2011

Flag of Jamaica
Flag of Jamaica

According to Jamaica’s Registrar General’s Department (RGD), the top baby names in Jamaica in 2011 were Gabrielle and Jayden.

Here are the top 5 girl names and top 5 boy names:

Girl names

  1. Gabrielle
  2. Amelia
  3. Tianna
  4. Brianna
  5. Jada

Boy names

  1. Jayden
  2. Daniel
  3. Joshua
  4. Justin
  5. Jaden & Ajani (tie)

And here are a few extra facts:

  • While Jayden remained the top boy name, usage decreased nearly 13% from 2010 to 2011.
  • Ajani rose to 5th place (2011) from 8th place (2010).
  • Jada rose to 5th place (2011) from 9th place (2010).
  • The top middle names were Anthony (same as in 2010) and Abigail (beating 2010’s Amanda).

Interestingly, according to a 2011 pamphlet called All About Baby (PDF), the top 10 names per gender “registered at the RGD” (during some unspecified previous year?) were…

  • Girl names: Brianna, Rihanna, Gabrielle, Ashley, Jada, Tiana, Abigail, Amelia, Kayla, Danielle
  • Boy names: Daniel, Jayden, Joshua, Jordan, Ricardo, Anthony, Nathan, Michael, Alex, Malik

These lists seem more similar to Jamaica’s 2008 rankings, which were topped by Brihanna and Daniel.

Source: “Jayden, Gabrielle most popular Jamaican baby names.” Jamaica Observer 11 Jun. 2012.

Image: Adapted from Flag of Jamaica (public domain)

Popular baby names in Jamaica, 2008

Flag of Jamaica
Flag of Jamaica

According to the Registrar General’s Department (RGD) of Jamaica, these were the island’s most popular baby names in 2008:

Girl names

  1. Brihanna
  2. Rhianna
  3. Ashley
  4. Gabrielle
  5. Abigail

Boy names

  1. Daniel
  2. Joshua
  3. Jordan
  4. Ricardo
  5. Anthony

Why am I posting rankings from 2008? Well, this is the most recent set of rankings I could track down at the Jamaican Government’s website.

But the site does contain a few interesting facts. For instance, I didn’t know that adding “Ann” to girl names was once trendy in Jamaica:

In studying the naming patterns of Jamaicans, information from the RGD’s database reveal that more families between the period 1950’s to the mid 90’s gave their children traditional Anglo-Saxon names. It should be noted however that most of these female names included the name Ann.

For instance in the United States and the UK where Lisa, Nicole, Kimberly and Carrie are names which dominated the late 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s, the Jamaican twist to these names are Nicole-Ann, Kerry Ann and Lisa Ann.

The site also mentions that…

  • At least 48 babies were named Charlie in the three months following Hurricane Charlie, which hit Jamaica in August of 1951.
  • 10 babies were named Gilbert in the nine months following Hurricane Gilbert, which hit Jamaica in September of 1988. (This includes two babies born on the day of the hurricane.)
  • At least 20 babies were named Usain following “the historic performance of Usain Bolt at the Olympics and the recently concluded World Games.”
  • Babies started being named Obama following “the historic election of the first African American President in the United States.”

Source: Naming Your Child the Jamaican Way – RGD – Government of Jamaica

Image: Adapted from Flag of Jamaica (public domain)

How did Barack Obama influence U.S. baby names?

President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Sasha Obama, and Malia Obama (in the White House in 2009)
Barack Obama and family

Several days ago, Senator Barack Obama defeated Senator John McCain in the U.S. presidential election.

So far, several U.S. babies have been named in honor of Obama:

  • Jordan Barack Treasure (born on November 3 in New York)
  • Benjamin Barack Kimbrough (born on November 4 in Arkansas)
    • His father, Walter Kimbrough, is the president of Philander Smith College.
  • Pierre Obama Adell Willis (born on November 4 in Georgia)
    • His nickname is “The Little President.”
  • Sanjae Obama Fisher (born on November 4 in Florida)
  • Te’Jean Barack Bowen (born on November 4 in California)
  • Sasha Malia Ann Taylor (born on November 5 in Maryland)
  • Barack Jeilah (born on November 5 in Arizona)

Barack Obama’s first name is based on an Arabic word meaning “blessing.” His last name comes from a word meaning “bent over” or “limping” in the Luo language.

Have you spotted any other Barack Obama namesakes in your area? Let me know and I’ll add them to the post.

P.S. Babies are also being named for Obama in Kenya.

Update, Aug. 2024: So how did the election of Barack Obama in late 2008 influence U.S. baby names overall?

According to the U.S. baby name data, Barack was the fastest-rising baby name of 2008, and both Barack and Obama reached peak popularity in 2009.

Boys named BarackBoys named Obama
201115.
201028.
200972†16†
20085214*
20075*.
*Debut, †Peak usage

The name of Obama’s older daughter, Malia (pronounced mah-LEE-ah), also reached peak popularity in 2009. The name of his younger daughter, Sasha, saw a spike in usage the same year.

Girls named MaliaGirls named Sasha
20111,011 [rank: 313th]858 [rank: 374th]
20101,075 [rank: 301st]944 [rank: 341st]
20091,700† [rank: 192nd]1,251 [rank: 262nd]
2008967 [rank: 345th]916 [rank: 361st]
2007817 [rank: 400th]926 [rank: 350th]
†Peak usage

The name of Obama’s wife, Michelle, did not see a discernible increase in usage — likely because the name Michelle has been in decline since the early ’70s (when it was one of the top girl names in the country).

Sources:

Image: P090109-0127 by the U.S. government (via Flickr)