Jarvis
English name of uncertain origin, likely a medieval surname turned given name.
Name Census estimates that about 15,616 living Americans carry the first name Jarvis. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Jarvis today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jarvis births was 1989 (644 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jarvis. 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 Jarvis with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jarvis is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 123 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
16K
~ 1 in 21,949 Americans
Peak year
1989
644 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,015
Tracked since 1882
Census
Jarvis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,961 people with the first name Jarvis, which placed it at #2,203 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
#2,203
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
11,961 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
78.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jarvis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jarvis is Black at 78.2%. The next largest groups are White (11.8%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Jarvis 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 Jarvis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American78.2% · 9,352
- White11.8% · 1,412
- Two or more races3.1% · 373
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 349
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 263
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 212
Gender
Gender distribution for Jarvis
Out of the 17,799 babies given the name Jarvis since 1880, 99.3% 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.
Jarvis as a male name
- Ranked #2,015 in 2024
- 76 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1989 (635 births)
Jarvis as a female name
- Ranked #8,310 in 1989
- 9 female births in 1989
- Peak: 1984 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jarvis appears almost entirely male. Of the 11,958 people counted with this name, 99.0% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Jarvis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jarvis from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 4,839 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
Jarvis 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 Jarvis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jarvis' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 31 states and territories. Georgia, Florida, Texas recorded the most babies named Jarvis, while Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 439 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jarvis
The name Jarvis is of English origin, believed to have derived from the French name Gervais or Gervase, which itself originated from the Germanic name Gervas. The name can be traced back to the Middle Ages and is thought to have been introduced to England by the Normans after the conquest in 1066.
The name Jarvis is a diminutive form of the Old French name Gerveis, which means "brave spear" or "spear bearer." It is derived from the Germanic elements "ger," meaning spear, and "wais," meaning brave or strong. This name likely originated as a descriptive name for a skilled warrior or soldier.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jarvis can be found in the Domesday Book, a survey of land and landowners commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as "Gervaise," indicating its early presence in England after the Norman conquest.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Jarvis. One of the earliest was Jarvis Matcham (c. 1565-1636), an English landowner and Member of Parliament for Aldborough, East Yorkshire, during the reign of King James I.
Another noteworthy figure was Jarvis Handlen (c. 1710-1776), an American pioneer and early settler in Virginia. He played a significant role in the colonization of the Shenandoah Valley and was a prominent figure in the region's early history.
In the world of literature, Jarvis Lorry is a fictional character in Charles Dickens' novel "A Tale of Two Cities," published in 1859. He is a banker and one of the main protagonists in the story.
Jarvis Cocker (born 1963) is a contemporary English musician, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the band Pulp. He has had a successful career in the music industry and is widely recognized for his distinctive vocals and songwriting.
Lastly, Jarvis Trahair (1839-1924) was an Australian politician and businessman. He served as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and played a crucial role in the development of the coal mining industry in the region.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who bore the name Jarvis, highlighting its longevity and diverse cultural presence across various fields and eras.
People
Jarvis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jarvis 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
Jarvis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jarvis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15,616 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jarvis 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 21,949 US residents.
Is Jarvis a common name?
We classify Jarvis as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 17,799 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jarvis most popular?
The single biggest year for Jarvis was 1989, when 644 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jarvis is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jarvis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,961 people with the name Jarvis, or 3.96 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,203 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 Jarvis 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 Jarvis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jarvis appears almost entirely male. Of the 11,958 people counted with this name, 99.0% 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 Jarvis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jarvis is Black at 78.2%. The next largest groups are White (11.8%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Jarvis most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jarvis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.2% (9,352 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 Jarvis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jarvis a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Jarvis 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 Jarvis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jarvis 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 Jarvis 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 Jarvis?
Want to know how many people share the name Jarvis? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.