Jacklyn
Feminine variant of the masculine given name "Jack", derived from the name Jacob meaning "supplanter".
Name Census estimates that about 14,411 living Americans carry the first name Jacklyn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jacklyn today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jacklyn births was 1987 (488 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jacklyn. 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 Jacklyn with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
14K
~ 1 in 23,784 Americans
Peak year
1987
488 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
1989 SSA rank
#2,895
Tracked since 1913
Census
Jacklyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 14,485 people with the first name Jacklyn, which placed it at #1,937 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
#1,937
National first-name rank
People counted
14K
14,485 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jacklyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jacklyn is White at 65.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.6%) and Black (6.4%). 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 Jacklyn 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 Jacklyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.2% · 9,448
- Hispanic or Latino19.6% · 2,832
- Black or African American6.4% · 924
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 653
- Two or more races3.4% · 494
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 134
Gender
Gender distribution for Jacklyn
Out of the 16,932 babies given the name Jacklyn since 1880, 100.0% 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.
Jacklyn as a male name
- Ranked #8,412 in 1989
- 5 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1989 (5 births)
Jacklyn as a female name
- Ranked #2,895 in 2024
- 57 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1987 (488 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jacklyn appears almost entirely female. Of the 14,492 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Jacklyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jacklyn from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 4,062 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jacklyn 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 Jacklyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jacklyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 39 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Jacklyn, while Nevada, Nebraska, New Hampshire recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 312 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jacklyn
The name Jacklyn is a feminine form of the name John, which has its origins in the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious." The name John was widely popular in Europe during the Middle Ages, influenced by figures such as John the Baptist and John the Apostle from the New Testament.
Jacklyn emerged as a variant spelling of the name Jacqueline, which traces its roots back to the French form of the name, Jacques. Jacques is derived from the late Latin name Jacobus, which in turn comes from the Hebrew name Jacob, meaning "supplanter" or "one who grasps the heel." The addition of the diminutive suffix "-lyn" or "-line" was a common practice in English-speaking regions.
While the name Jacklyn does not have a direct historical significance in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its connection to the names John and Jacob links it to figures from the Bible and other religious traditions. One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Jacklyn can be found in the 16th century English records.
Among the notable historical figures who bore the name Jacklyn, we can mention Jacklyn H. Lucas (1928-2008), a United States Marine who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. Another prominent Jacklyn was Jacklyn Zeman (born 1953), an American actress best known for her role as Bobbie Spencer on the soap opera "General Hospital."
In the literary world, Jacklyn Moriarty (born 1968) is an Australian author known for her young adult fiction, including the popular novel "The Year of Secret Assignments." Jacklyn Victor (1941-2015) was a Malaysian actress and singer who gained fame in the 1960s and 1970s for her roles in Malay films and television shows.
Lastly, Jacklyn H. Gier (born 1932) was an American educator and politician who served as the Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota from 1979 to 1987, becoming the first woman to hold that position in the state's history.
People
Jacklyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jacklyn 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
Jacklyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jacklyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 14,411 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jacklyn 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 23,784 US residents.
Is Jacklyn a common name?
We classify Jacklyn as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16,932 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jacklyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Jacklyn was 1987, when 488 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jacklyn is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jacklyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 14,485 people with the name Jacklyn, or 4.80 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,937 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 Jacklyn 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 Jacklyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jacklyn appears almost entirely female. Of the 14,492 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Jacklyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jacklyn is White at 65.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.6%) and Black (6.4%). 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 Jacklyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jacklyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.2% (9,448 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 Jacklyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jacklyn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jacklyn 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 Jacklyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jacklyn 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 Jacklyn 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 people share the name Jacklyn?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.