Jamye
A feminine diminutive form of the name James, derived from Jacob.
Name Census estimates that about 758 living Americans carry the first name Jamye. It is a predominantly female name (98.6% of registrations). The average person named Jamye today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jamye births was 1976 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jamye. 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.
People living today
758
~ 1 in 452,183 Americans
Peak year
1976
39 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
1988 SSA rank
#6,050
Tracked since 1947
Census
Jamye in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 850 people with the first name Jamye, which placed it at #13,996 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
#13,996
National first-name rank
People counted
850
850 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jamye
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jamye is White at 66.5%. The next largest groups are Black (20.9%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Jamye 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 Jamye at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.5% · 565
- Black or African American20.9% · 178
- Hispanic or Latino8.0% · 68
- Two or more races3.3% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Jamye
Jamye leans heavily female at 98.6% of total registrations, but 12 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jamye as a male name
- Ranked #6,050 in 1988
- 7 male births in 1988
- Peak: 1988 (7 births)
Jamye as a female name
- Ranked #12,700 in 2012
- 8 female births in 2012
- Peak: 1976 (39 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jamye leans strongly female. 760 people counted with this name were female (88.6%), compared with 98 male bearers (11.4%).
Popularity
Jamye: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jamye from the 1940s through to the 2010s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 211 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
Jamye 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 Jamye during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jamyes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jamye
The name Jamye has its origins in the ancient Semitic languages, tracing back to the Hebrew name Yaakov (Jacob). The name is derived from the root word "aqeb," which means "heel" or "supplanter." This reference is believed to allude to the biblical story of Jacob being born holding onto the heel of his twin brother, Esau.
In the Hebrew Bible, Jacob is one of the most prominent figures, being the son of Isaac and Rebekah and the grandson of Abraham. He is revered as one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and is an important figure in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
The name Jamye is a variant spelling of the more common name James, which is the English form of the Latin name Iacobus, which in turn is derived from the Greek form of the Hebrew name, Iakobos. This name was popularized in the New Testament, where it was borne by two of the Twelve Apostles, James the son of Zebedee and James the son of Alphaeus.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Jamye dates back to the 12th century, when it was borne by Jamye de Vaux, a French nobleman and crusader who fought in the Third Crusade alongside King Richard the Lionheart.
Another notable figure with the name Jamye was Jamye Blunt, an English explorer and navigator who accompanied Sir Walter Raleigh on his expeditions to the New World in the late 16th century. Blunt played a crucial role in establishing the first English settlements in Virginia and is credited with mapping the Chesapeake Bay area.
In the 17th century, Jamye Howell was a renowned Welsh clergyman and author who wrote extensively on church history and theology. His works, such as "An Institution of General History" and "A Discourse Concerning the Precedency of Kings," were widely read and influential during his time.
In the realm of literature, Jamye Fenimore Cooper, born in 1789, was an American writer and one of the most popular novelists of his time. He is best known for his historical novels set in frontier America, including "The Last of the Mohicans" and "The Deerslayer."
Finally, in the 20th century, Jamye Earl Jones, born in 1931, is an American actor renowned for his distinctive bass voice. He is best known for his iconic roles as Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise and as the voice of Mufasa in Disney's "The Lion King."
People
Jamye + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jamye 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
Jamye: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jamye?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 758 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jamye 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 452,183 US residents.
Is Jamye a common name?
We classify Jamye as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 847 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jamye most popular?
The single biggest year for Jamye was 1976, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jamye is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jamye in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 850 people with the name Jamye, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,996 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 Jamye 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 Jamye?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jamye leans strongly female. 760 people counted with this name were female (88.6%), compared with 98 male bearers (11.4%). 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 Jamye?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jamye is White at 66.5%. The next largest groups are Black (20.9%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Jamye most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jamye in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.5% (565 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 Jamye in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jamye a female name?
Yes, 98.6% of people registered as Jamye 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 Jamye still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jamye 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 Jamye 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 have Jamye as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.