How popular is the baby name Jason 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 Jason.

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Popularity of the baby name Jason


Posts that mention the name Jason

Popular baby names in New York City, 2016

Flag of New York
Flag of New York

According to New York City’s Health Department, the most popular baby names in the city last year were Olivia and Liam.

Here are New York City’s top 50 girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2016:

Girl names

  1. Olivia, 564 baby girls
  2. Sophia, 557
  3. Emma, 525
  4. Isabella, 469
  5. Mia, 468
  6. Ava, 450
  7. Emily, 388
  8. Leah, 348
  9. Sarah, 338
  10. Madison, 325
  11. Charlotte, 320 (tie)
  12. Sofia, 320 (tie)
  13. Chloe, 314
  14. Abigail, 285
  15. Rachel, 269
  16. Victoria, 256
  17. Amelia, 254
  18. Esther, 248
  19. Zoe, 244
  20. Maya, 239
  21. Elizabeth, 220
  22. Grace, 213
  23. Camila, 197 (tie)
  24. Ella, 197 (tie)
  25. Sara, 196
  26. Riley, 189
  27. Chaya, 183
  28. Valentina, 182
  29. Ariana, 177
  30. Hannah, 169
  31. Chana, 166 (tie)
  32. Miriam, 166 (tie)
  33. Hailey, 164
  34. Gabriella, 158
  35. Ashley, 157 (tie)
  36. Penelope, 157 (tie)
  37. Scarlett, 156
  38. Layla, 152
  39. Alexandra, 149
  40. Evelyn, 145
  41. Samantha, 142
  42. Mila, 141
  43. Aria, 139
  44. Avery, 138 (tie)
  45. Zoey, 138 (tie)
  46. Alice, 137 (tie)
  47. Arianna, 137 (tie)
  48. Eva, 135 (tie)
  49. Kayla, 135 (tie)
  50. Alexa, 134

Boy names

  1. Liam, 710 baby boys
  2. Jacob, 696
  3. Ethan, 690
  4. Noah, 631
  5. Aiden, 536
  6. Matthew, 535
  7. Daniel, 522
  8. Lucas, 503
  9. Michael, 502
  10. Dylan, 495
  11. David, 479
  12. Alexander, 476
  13. Jayden, 464
  14. Ryan, 437
  15. Joseph, 421
  16. Sebastian, 396
  17. Mason, 395
  18. James, 383
  19. Benjamin, 379
  20. Joshua, 328
  21. Samuel, 326
  22. William, 304
  23. Christopher, 303
  24. Isaac, 301
  25. Aaron, 296
  26. Henry, 295
  27. Anthony, 292 (tie)
  28. Gabriel, 292 (tie)
  29. Adam, 280
  30. Logan, 276 (tie)
  31. Nicholas, 276 (tie)
  32. Oliver, 270
  33. Elijah, 264
  34. John, 263
  35. Nathan, 249
  36. Andrew, 247
  37. Moshe, 242
  38. Jonathan, 241
  39. Julian, 238
  40. Jack, 227
  41. Abraham, 224
  42. Adrian, 222 (tie)
  43. Justin, 222 (tie)
  44. Leo, 220
  45. Christian, 206 (tie)
  46. Josiah, 206 (tie)
  47. Jeremiah, 202
  48. Angel, 200
  49. Muhammad, 193
  50. Eli, 188 (4-way tie)
  51. Ian, 188 (4-way tie)
  52. Jason, 188 (4-way tie)
  53. Kevin, 188 (4-way tie)

The top baby names within specific ethnic/racial groups were…

Top girl namesTop boy names
Hispanic1. Isabella, 276
2. Sophia, 261
3. Mia, 228
4. Emma, 197
5. Camila, 180		1. Liam, 387
2. Jacob, 351
3. Dylan, 312
4. Matthew, 297
5. Noah, 269
Asian and Pacific Islander1. Olivia, 172
2. Chloe, 112
3. Sophia, 104
4. Emily, 99 (tie)
5. Emma, 99 (tie)		1. Ethan, 193
2. Ryan, 160
3. Muhammad, 157
4. Lucas, 148
5. Jayden, 138
Non-Hispanic White1. Olivia, 230
2. Rachel, 221
3. Esther, 209
4. Sarah, 202
5. Emma, 201		1. Joseph, 261
2. Michael, 260
3. David, 255
4. Moshe, 239
5. Jacob, 236
Non-Hispanic Black1. Ava, 109
2. Madison, 104
3. Skylar, 68
4. Riley, 65
5. Aaliyah, 57		1. Noah, 148
2. Aiden, 137
3. Elijah, 116
4. Liam, 108
5. Ethan, 107

Among the names given to just 10 babies each in NYC last year were the girl names Amberly, Florence, Jannatul, Paloma, and Thalia, and the boy names Henri, Ibraheem, Mordche, Oumar, and Terry.

One year earlier, in 2015, NYC’s top names (overall) were Olivia and Ethan.

Sources (all originally from NYC.gov):

Image: Adapted from Flag of New York (public domain)

[Latest update: Nov. 2025]

Popular baby names in smaller U.S. territories, 2016

According to the SSA, the most popular baby names in the permanently inhabited U.S. territories of Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa — all four regions combined — in 2016 were were Olivia and Daniel.

Here are the top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names for the four regions, which which have a combined population of roughly 380,000 people.

Girl Names
1. Olivia, 14 baby girls
2. Angela, 12 (2-way tie)
3. Sophia, 12 (2-way tie)
4. Amy, 11 (2-way tie)
5. Faith, 11 (2-way tie)
6. Aria, 10 (2-way tie)
7. Chloe, 10 (2-way tie)
8. Amelia, 9 (3-way tie)
9. Athena, 9 (3-way tie)
10. Grace, 9 (3-way tie)

Boy Names
1. Daniel, 22 baby boys
2. Jason, 19
3. Aiden, 17
4. Liam, 16
5. David, 15 (2-way tie)
6. Jayden, 15 (2-way tie)
7. Ethan, 14 (3-way tie)
8. James, 14 (3-way tie)
9. William, 14 (3-way tie)
10. Aaron, 13 (2-way tie with Lucas, #11)

In 2015, the top names were Ava and David. The year before they were Olivia and Daniel.

Three of the names in the girls’ combined top 10 were not in the U.S. top 100: Angela (214th), Amy (176th), and Athena (142nd).

One intriguing name on the boys’ list is Eason, which ranked 23rd-ish. (A 4-way tie between Alexander, Andy, Eason, and Logan spanned 21st to 24th place.) I wish I could tell which of the four territories is using it. In the U.S., Eason is rising quickly. In fact, it jumped into the top 1,000 for the first time last year (rank: 902nd).

Note: The SSA doesn’t include baby name data from the five permanently inhabited U.S. territories in its annual rankings (e.g., the top 1,000). But it does release two separate lists: one for Puerto Rico (the most populous territory at 3.5 million people), one for the four other territories combined. Click below to see the complete sets of rankings.

Source: Popular Baby Names by Territory (SSA)

Popular baby names in Ireland, 2016

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland

According to data released yesterday by Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO), the most popular baby names in the country in 2016 were Emily and James.

Here are Ireland’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2016:

Girl Names

  1. Emily, 490 baby girls
  2. Grace, 452 (up from 8th to 2nd)
  3. Ava, 388 (2-way tie)
  4. Lucy, 388 (2-way tie)
  5. Amelia, 369 (2-way tie)
  6. Sophie, 369 (2-way tie)
  7. Emma, 365 (down from 2nd to 7th)
  8. Mia, 357
  9. Hannah, 351 (new)
  10. Lily, 334 (new)

Boy Names

  1. James, 688 baby boys (new #1 name; replaced Jack)
  2. Jack, 684
  3. Daniel, 558 (2-way tie)
  4. Conor, 558 (2-way tie)
  5. Sean, 501
  6. Noah, 446
  7. Adam, 400
  8. Oisin, 398 (new)
  9. Michael, 394
  10. Luke, 375

Some quick facts about the girl names…

  • Newbies to the top 10: Hannah, Lily
  • Newbies to the top 100: Aria, Harper, Heidi, Matilda, Willow, Zoey
  • Biggest increases within the top 100, by…
    • Ranking: Willow/Matilda (tied), Harper, Heidi, Zoey, Daisy
    • Raw number: Grace, Fiadh, Saoirse, Charlotte, Evie, Holly/Alice (tied)
  • Top girl names in Ireland’s five biggest cities: Amelia (Dublin and Cork), Ava (Limerick), Fiadh (Galway), Mia (Waterford)

And some quick facts about the boy names…

  • Newbie to the top 10: Oisin
  • Newbie to the top 100: Muhammad
  • Biggest increases within the top 100, by…
    • Ranking: Muhammad, Louis, Lucas, Josh/Jason (tied), Ollie
    • Raw number: Finn, Max, Jacob, Lucas, Oisin, Ollie, Rian
  • Top boy names in Ireland’s five biggest cities: James (Dublin), Charlie (Cork), Conor (Limerick), Michael (Galway), Daniel (Waterford)

Finally, here are the 2015 rankings for Ireland, the 2016 rankings for Northern Ireland, and some Irish name pronunciations.

Sources: Irish Babies’ Names 2016, Press Statement Irish Babies’ Names 2016

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)

Where did the baby name Sundance come from?

The characters Butch and Sundance from the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969).
Butch and Sundance from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid“

Teenage thief Harry Longabaugh served an 18-month jail sentence in Sundance, Wyoming, in the late 1880s. During his imprisonment, he was nicknamed “the Sundance Kid.”

In the 1890s, Harry became associated with Butch Cassidy’s infamous “Wild Bunch” train-robbing gang.

Many years later, in 1969, the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid starring Paul Newman (as Butch) and Robert Redford (as Sundance) came out. Not only did the film win four Academy Awards, but it called attention to the names Cassidy and Sundance.

Babies named CassidyBabies named Sundance
197222 boys + 32 girls.
197126 boys + 17 girls6 boys*
197013 boys + 12 girls.
19695 boys + 5 girls*.
19685 boys*.
1967..
*Debut

Cassidy, which started appearing in the U.S. baby name data in the late ’60s, began rising in usage the year after the movie was released. (It soon became trendy as a girl name, peaking at 99th in the girls’ rankings in 1999.)

Sundance, on the other hand, debuted in the data a couple of years after the movie came out…but never really picked up steam the way Cassidy did.

Which of these two names do you prefer, Sundance or Cassidy?

Image: Screenshot of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid