Jameson
English name meaning "son of James", from the Hebrew name Jacob.
Name Census estimates that about 59,745 living Americans carry the first name Jameson. It sits at #117 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (98.0% of registrations). The average person named Jameson today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jameson births was 2019 (4,707 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jameson. 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 Jameson with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jameson is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,187 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Jameson is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
60K
~ 1 in 5,737 Americans
Peak year
2019
4,707 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#117
Tracked since 1922
Census
Jameson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 37,849 people with the first name Jameson, which placed it at #1,092 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
#1,092
National first-name rank
People counted
38K
37,849 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
12.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jameson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jameson is White at 77.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.0%) and Two or More Races (6.6%). 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 Jameson 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 Jameson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.9% · 29,475
- Hispanic or Latino9.0% · 3,392
- Two or more races6.6% · 2,508
- Black or African American4.0% · 1,527
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 664
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 283
Gender
Gender distribution for Jameson
Jameson leans heavily male at 98.0% of total registrations, but 1,187 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jameson as a male name
- Ranked #117 in 2024
- 3,025 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (4,673 births)
Jameson as a female name
- Ranked #5,493 in 2024
- 23 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (72 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jameson leans strongly male. 36,898 people counted with this name were male (97.5%), compared with 952 female bearers (2.5%).
Popularity
Jameson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jameson from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 29,039 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jameson remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jameson 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 Jameson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jamesons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Jameson, while Wyoming, Vermont, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,141 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jameson
The name Jameson is an English surname that originated as a patronymic, meaning "son of James." It is derived from the Hebrew name Ya'aqov, which means "supplanter" or "one who follows." The name James is a derivative of the Latin Jacobus and the Greek Iakobos.
The earliest recorded use of the name Jameson dates back to the 13th century in England. It was initially used as a surname but eventually became a given name as well. The name gained popularity during the Protestant Reformation, as many parents chose biblical names for their children.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Jameson was Sir John Jameson, an Irish businessman and founder of the Jameson Irish Whiskey distillery in Dublin. He was born in 1773 and played a significant role in establishing the Jameson brand as a globally recognized name in the whiskey industry.
Another notable figure with the name Jameson was Jameson Parker, an American actor known for his role in the television series Simon & Simon. He was born in 1947 and had a successful career in both film and television.
In the literary world, Jameson Currier was an American author and journalist best known for his novel "The Wolf at the Door." He was born in 1909 and his works often explored themes of social justice and the human condition.
Jameson Locke was a fictional character from the popular video game series Halo, introduced in Halo 5: Guardians. He was a skilled soldier and the leader of the elite Spartan squad, known as Fireteam Osiris.
Finally, Jameson Parker Bone was an American painter and sculptor who lived from 1833 to 1908. He was a prominent figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painting and is renowned for his detailed and realistic depictions of nature.
These are just a few examples of individuals with the name Jameson who have left their mark on various fields throughout history. The name's origins can be traced back to the Hebrew and Greek roots, and it has been used as both a surname and a given name over the centuries.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jameson
People
Jameson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jameson 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
Jameson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jameson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 59,745 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jameson 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 5,737 US residents.
Is Jameson a common name?
We classify Jameson as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 60,430 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jameson most popular?
The single biggest year for Jameson was 2019, when 4,707 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jameson is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jameson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 37,849 people with the name Jameson, or 12.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,092 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 Jameson 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 Jameson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jameson leans strongly male. 36,898 people counted with this name were male (97.5%), compared with 952 female bearers (2.5%). 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 Jameson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jameson is White at 77.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.0%) and Two or More Races (6.6%). 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 Jameson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jameson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.9% (29,475 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 Jameson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jameson a male name?
Yes, 98.0% of people registered as Jameson 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 Jameson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jameson 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 Jameson 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 are named Jameson?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Jameson at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.