Jax
A variant of the name Jack, derived from the surname Jackson.
Name Census estimates that about 24,134 living Americans carry the first name Jax. It sits at #315 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.1% of registrations). The average person named Jax today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jax births was 2015 (1,902 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jax. 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 Jax with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jax is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 211 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Jax is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
24K
~ 1 in 14,202 Americans
Peak year
2015
1,902 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#315
Tracked since 1995
Census
Jax in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 17,262 people with the first name Jax, which placed it at #1,748 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
#1,748
National first-name rank
People counted
17K
17,262 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jax
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jax is White at 70.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.4%) and Two or More Races (7.3%). 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 Jax 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 Jax at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.2% · 12,122
- Hispanic or Latino16.4% · 2,831
- Two or more races7.3% · 1,255
- Black or African American2.7% · 473
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 398
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 183
Gender
Gender distribution for Jax
Out of the 24,321 babies given the name Jax since 1880, 99.1% 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.
Jax as a male name
- Ranked #315 in 2024
- 1,087 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (1,864 births)
Jax as a female name
- Ranked #12,663 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (38 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jax leans strongly male. 16,998 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 272 female bearers (1.6%).
Popularity
Jax: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jax from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 15,450 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jax remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jax 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 Jax during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jax' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Jax, while Vermont, District of Columbia, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 455 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jax
The name Jax has its origins in the Old English language, originating from the Germanic root word "jag," which meant "to chase" or "to hunt." It was originally a shortened form of the name Jacharias or Jacharius, which were derived from the Hebrew name Zechariah, meaning "the Lord remembers."
In the 9th century, the name Jax emerged as a variant of these longer names, particularly prevalent in regions of England and parts of northern Europe. Its earliest recorded use dates back to the 10th century, when it appeared in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical record of the early English kingdoms.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Jax was Jax of Lindsey, a 10th-century nobleman and landowner in the Kingdom of Lindsey, located in what is now Lincolnshire, England. In the 12th century, Jax de Bray, a French knight and crusader, accompanied King Richard I on the Third Crusade to the Holy Land.
During the Middle Ages, the name Jax gained popularity among the English nobility and aristocracy. In the 14th century, Jax de Vere was a renowned English soldier and military commander who served under King Edward III during the Hundred Years' War with France.
In the world of literature, one of the earliest recorded uses of the name Jax appeared in the epic poem "Beowulf," which dates back to the 8th or 9th century. The character Jax is mentioned as a warrior and kinsman of the legendary hero Beowulf.
Another notable figure was Jax Sobieski, a 17th-century Polish military leader and king, who led the forces that lifted the Siege of Vienna in 1683, turning the tide against the Ottoman Empire's advance into Europe. His victory at the Battle of Vienna is considered one of the most significant military victories in European history.
While the name Jax fell out of widespread use in the modern era, it has experienced a resurgence in recent decades, particularly as a shortened version of the name Jackson. However, its historical roots and associations with bravery, strength, and nobility have contributed to its enduring appeal and significance throughout the centuries.
People
Jax + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jax 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
Jax: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jax?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 24,134 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jax 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 14,202 US residents.
Is Jax a common name?
We classify Jax as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 24,321 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jax most popular?
The single biggest year for Jax was 2015, when 1,902 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jax is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jax in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 17,262 people with the name Jax, or 5.72 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,748 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 Jax 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 Jax?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jax leans strongly male. 16,998 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 272 female bearers (1.6%). 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 Jax?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jax is White at 70.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.4%) and Two or More Races (7.3%). 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 Jax most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jax in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.2% (12,122 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 Jax in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jax a male name?
Yes, 99.1% of people registered as Jax 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 Jax still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jax 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 Jax 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 share the name Jax?
Find out how many Americans are named Jax on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.