Jared
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "descent" or "he who descends".
Name Census estimates that about 198,612 living Americans carry the first name Jared. It sits at #393 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jared today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jared births was 1998 (7,478 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jared. 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 Jared with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jared is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 768 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
199K
~ 1 in 1,726 Americans
Peak year
1998
7,478 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#393
Tracked since 1881
Census
Jared in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 180,305 people with the first name Jared, which placed it at #308 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
#308
National first-name rank
People counted
180K
180,305 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
59.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jared
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jared is White at 76.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.3%) and Black (5.4%). 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 Jared 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 Jared at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.4% · 137,670
- Hispanic or Latino11.3% · 20,398
- Black or African American5.4% · 9,813
- Two or more races4.0% · 7,203
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 3,757
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 1,464
Gender
Gender distribution for Jared
Out of the 206,307 babies given the name Jared since 1880, 99.6% 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.
Jared as a male name
- Ranked #393 in 2024
- 828 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (7,462 births)
Jared as a female name
- Ranked #13,676 in 2014
- 7 female births in 2014
- Peak: 1982 (47 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jared appears almost entirely male. Of the 180,306 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Jared: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jared from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 63,963 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jared 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 Jared during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jareds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Jared, while District of Columbia, Delaware, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,988 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jared
The name Jared has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew word "yarad," which means "to descend" or "to go down." The name is thought to have been given to children as a symbolic wish for them to have a humble and modest nature.
One of the earliest mentions of the name Jared can be found in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. Jared was the name of a patriarch who lived before the Great Flood, and he was said to have lived for 962 years, making him one of the longest-lived individuals mentioned in the Bible.
The name Jared appears to have been relatively uncommon in ancient times, with few recorded instances of its use. However, it gained more widespread popularity in the Middle Ages, particularly in Europe, where it was adopted by various Christian communities.
One notable figure with the name Jared was Jared of Venice, an Italian monk and scholar who lived in the 13th century. He was known for his contributions to the study of Hebrew and for his translations of Jewish texts into Latin.
Another historical figure named Jared was Jared Ingersoll, an American lawyer and politician who lived from 1722 to 1781. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and played a role in the drafting of the United States Constitution.
In the 19th century, the name Jared was associated with Jared Sparks, an American historian and educator who served as the president of Harvard University from 1849 to 1853. He was renowned for his biographies of prominent American figures, including George Washington and Gouverneur Morris.
Moving into the 20th century, one noteworthy individual named Jared was Jared Diamond, an American scientist and author born in 1937. He is best known for his influential book "Guns, Germs, and Steel," which explores the geographical and environmental factors that influenced the development of human societies.
Another notable Jared was Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former United States President Donald Trump. Born in 1981, Kushner served as a senior advisor to the president and played a significant role in various policy initiatives during Trump's administration.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jared
People
Jared + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jared 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
Jared: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jared?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 198,612 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jared 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 1,726 US residents.
Is Jared a common name?
We classify Jared as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 206,307 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jared most popular?
The single biggest year for Jared was 1998, when 7,478 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jared is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jared in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 180,305 people with the name Jared, or 59.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #308 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 Jared 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 Jared?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jared appears almost entirely male. Of the 180,306 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Jared?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jared is White at 76.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.3%) and Black (5.4%). 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 Jared most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jared in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.4% (137,670 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 Jared in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jared a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Jared 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 Jared still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jared 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 Jared 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 Jared?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.