How popular is the baby name Jerry 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 Jerry.

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Popularity of the baby name Jerry


Posts that mention the name Jerry

Popular baby names in British Columbia (Canada), 2017

According to British Columbia’s Vital Statistics Agency, the most popular baby names in the province in 2017 were Olivia and Benjamin.

Here are British Columbia’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2017:

Girl Names
1. Olivia, 260 baby girls
2. Emma, 231
3. Sophia, 183
4. Ava, 178 (tie)
5. Charlotte, 178 (tie)
6. Emily, 170
7. Chloe, 160
8. Hannah, 155
9. Amelia, 152
10. Abigail, 129

Boy Names
1. Benjamin, 221 baby boys
2. Liam, 220
3. Logan, 210
4. Lucas, 209
5. Ethan, 197 (tie)
6. James, 197 (tie)
7. Oliver, 186
8. Noah, 177
9. William, 176
10. Owen, 170

In the girls’ top 10, Hannah replaced Evelyn.

In the boys’ top 10, Logan replaced Jacob.

Names at the other end of the spectrum — used just five times each in 2017 — include…

  • Girl names: Ann, Beatrix, Cedar, Della, Elowen, Greta, Harlyn, Inaaya, Jenny, Karla, Leen, Marwa, Nicola, Ocean, Paris, Reyna, Sakura, Tina, Zaynab
  • Boy names: Ayan, Bishop, Clay, Darian, Emery, Flynn, Gurtaj, Houston, Ivar, Jerry, Kendrick, Loki, Mack, Niall, Princeton, Rayyan, Stellan, Tai, Zavier

The top names in 2016 were Olivia and Lucas.

Source: Baby’s Most Chosen Names in British Columbia, 2017

Where did the baby name Raymie come from in 1960?

Movie poster for "Raymie" (1960)
“Raymie” poster

The name Raymie first popped up in the U.S. baby name data in 1960:

  • 1962: 12 baby boys named Raymie
  • 1961: 21 baby boys (and 5 baby girls) named Raymie
  • 1960: 8 baby boys named Raymie [debut]
  • 1959: unlisted
  • 1958: unlisted

Where did it come from?

The sentimental movie Raymie (1960), which followed a young boy named Raymie Boston on his quest to catch “Old Moe,” a giant barracuda who tormented the local fishermen in Raymie’s Southern California town. When Raymie finally managed to land Old Moe, though, he had a change of heart about killing the fish…

Possibly the best-remembered thing about the movie is the theme song, “Raymie,” which was sung (surprisingly well!) by comedian Jerry Lewis.

Raymie Boston — whose first name was likely a nickname for Raymond — was played by David Ladd, the son of actor Alan Ladd (who played Choya in Branded and Jim Bowie in The Iron Mistress).

What are your thoughts on the name Raymie?

Sources: Raymie – TCM, SSA

Image: Movie poster for Raymie

Baby name story: Jameson

In February of 2018, St. Louis radio personality Cassiday Proctor and her partner, Jerry, welcomed a baby boy. In fact, the baby was born live (via Caesarean section) on the air!

What was the baby named? Jameson, because that’s what Cassiday’s audience had voted for a month earlier.

The radio station (WARH) had hosted an on-air, bracket-style tournament during January that started with 24 names — 12 serious contenders mixed with 12 not-so-serious contenders (such as Fredbird). Listeners helped Cassiday and Jerry “eliminate various options until they were left with one.”

Sources:

[Latest update: Jun. 2025]

Where did the baby name Peggysue come from in 1958?

Early rock and roll musician Buddy Holly (1936-1959)
Buddy Holly

In September of 1957, the classic rock and roll song “Peggy Sue” by Buddy Holly came out.

“Peggy Sue” was on Billboard‘s “Top 100” chart for 22 weeks from late 1957 to early 1958, reaching as high as the #3 spot.

Right on cue, the compound name Peggysue debuted in the U.S. baby name data in 1958:

  • 1960: unlisted
  • 1959: 6 baby girls named Peggysue
  • 1958: 7 baby girls named Peggysue [debut]
  • 1957: unlisted
  • 1956: unlisted

The name Peggy by itself also saw a significant increase in usage that year:

  • 1960: 6,434 baby girls named Peggy [rank: 69th]
  • 1959: 7,408 baby girls named Peggy [rank: 57th]
  • 1958: 10,072 baby girls named Peggy [rank: 42nd] (peak)
  • 1957: 7,379 baby girls named Peggy [rank: 62nd]
  • 1956: 7,487 baby girls named Peggy [rank: 63rd]

No doubt many of these Peggys had the middle name Sue.

So how did Buddy Holly chose the name “Peggy Sue” for the song? He didn’t — he wrote a song called “Cindy Lou,” taking the names from his newborn baby niece, Cindy Carol, and Cindy’s mom (Buddy’s sister) Patricia Lou.

But the original song wasn’t working out, so the band experimented with it in the summer of ’57. One of the changes they made was to the name. The rhythmically identical “Peggy Sue” was suggested by drummer Jerry Allison, who was dating a girl named Peggy Sue at the time.

At the end of 1958, Buddy Holly started working on “Peggy Sue Got Married,” one of rock and roll’s first sequel songs. Sadly he didn’t finish the song before February 3, 1959 — the day that he, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper died in a plane crash in Clear Lake, Iowa.

If you were having a baby girl, and you had to name her either Peggy Sue or Cindy Lou, which combination would you choose?

P.S. “Peggy Sue” was released just a few months after the doo-wop song “Deserie,” which we talked about a few days ago.

Sources:

Image: Buddy Holly (Brunswick Records publicity photo)

[Latest update: Aug. 2023]