Jackson
A masculine name of English origin meaning "son of Jack".
Roughly 280,762 people in the United States go by the first name Jackson, which ranks #35 nationally when sorted by estimated living bearers. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jackson today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jackson births was 2013 (12,625 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Randy (278,910).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jackson. 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 Jackson with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jackson is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 762 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Jackson is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
281K
~ 1 in 1,221 Americans
Peak year
2013
12,625 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#35
Tracked since 1880
Census
Jackson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 239,894 people with the first name Jackson, which placed it at #236 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
#236
National first-name rank
People counted
240K
239,894 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
79.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jackson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jackson is White at 82.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.6%) and Two or More Races (5.6%). 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 Jackson 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 Jackson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.2% · 197,151
- Hispanic or Latino6.6% · 15,763
- Two or more races5.6% · 13,460
- Black or African American3.3% · 7,942
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 4,241
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1,337
Gender
Gender distribution for Jackson
Out of the 291,323 babies given the name Jackson since 1880, 99.7% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Jackson as a male name
- Ranked #35 in 2024
- 6,876 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2013 (12,609 births)
Jackson as a female name
- Ranked #6,008 in 2024
- 20 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (65 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jackson appears almost entirely male. Of the 239,893 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Jackson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jackson from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 116,484 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jackson remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jackson 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 Jackson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jacksons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Jackson, while Wyoming, Hawaii, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5,596 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jackson
The given name Jackson originated from the English surname Jackson, which itself derives from the personal name Jack, a diminutive form of the name John. The name John comes from the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious" or "God is gracious."
Jackson as a first name emerged in the 17th century, particularly in England and Scotland. It was initially used as a patronymic, meaning "son of Jack," with the suffix "-son" added to the personal name Jack. The name gained popularity as a first name in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
While there are no known direct references to the name Jackson in ancient texts or religious scriptures, the name John, from which Jackson is derived, has biblical roots and is mentioned in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Additionally, the name Jack, which is the root of Jackson, was commonly used in medieval literature and folklore.
One of the earliest recorded uses of Jackson as a first name dates back to the late 16th century. Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), the 7th President of the United States, is perhaps the most famous historical figure to bear the name. Other notable individuals named Jackson throughout history include:
1. Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (1824-1863), a Confederate general during the American Civil War.
2. Jackson Pollock (1912-1956), an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement.
3. Jackson Browne (born 1948), an American singer-songwriter known for his contributions to the folk and rock genres.
4. Jackson C. Frank (1937-1999), an American folk singer-songwriter and musician.
5. Jackson Mthembu (1958-2021), a South African politician who served as Minister in the Presidency of South Africa.
The name Jackson has been widely adopted across various cultures and regions, transcending its English origins. It continues to be a popular choice for parents, reflecting its historical significance and versatility.
People
Jackson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jackson 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
Jackson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jackson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 280,762 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jackson 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 1,221 US residents.
Is Jackson a common name?
We classify Jackson 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, 291,323 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jackson most popular?
The single biggest year for Jackson was 2013, when 12,625 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jackson is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jackson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 239,894 people with the name Jackson, or 79.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #236 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 Jackson 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 Jackson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jackson appears almost entirely male. Of the 239,893 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Jackson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jackson is White at 82.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.6%) and Two or More Races (5.6%). 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 Jackson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jackson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.2% (197,151 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 Jackson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jackson a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Jackson in the SSA data are male. 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 Jackson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jackson 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 Jackson 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 common is the name Jackson?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Jackson on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.