Jayquan
A name of African-American origin meaning "gift from God".
Name Census estimates that about 1,688 living Americans carry the first name Jayquan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jayquan today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jayquan births was 2001 (105 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jayquan. 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 Jayquan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 203,054 Americans
Peak year
2001
105 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,502
Tracked since 1985
Census
Jayquan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,166 people with the first name Jayquan, which placed it at #11,141 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
#11,141
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,166 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
84.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jayquan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jayquan is Black at 84.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.6%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Jayquan 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 Jayquan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American84.6% · 987
- Hispanic or Latino6.6% · 77
- Two or more races6.0% · 70
- White1.8% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 2
Popularity
Jayquan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jayquan from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 719 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jayquan 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 Jayquan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jayquans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. New York, North Carolina, Florida recorded the most babies named Jayquan, while District of Columbia, Alabama, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 52 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jayquan
The name Jayquan is a modern African American name that has become popular in recent decades, but its origins and meaning are not entirely clear. It is believed to be a combination of the names Jay and Quan, with Jay being a diminutive form of the name James, which is derived from the Hebrew name Jacob, meaning "supplanter" or "holder of the heel." The second part, Quan, is likely derived from the name Juan, which is the Spanish form of John, meaning "God is gracious" in Hebrew.
While the name Jayquan does not have a long historical lineage, it reflects the cultural tradition of blending and creating new names within the African American community. This practice has its roots in the era of slavery when enslaved Africans were often given English names by their owners, leading to a loss of their original African names.
The earliest recorded use of the name Jayquan is difficult to pinpoint, but it is believed to have gained popularity in the late 20th century, particularly in urban areas with significant African American populations. Some of the notable individuals who have borne the name Jayquan include Jayquan McCloud, an American professional basketball player born in 1993, and Jayquan Renfro, an American football player born in 1998.
Another individual with the name Jayquan is Jayquan Smith, an American rapper and songwriter born in 1995. While not a household name, he has gained recognition within the hip-hop community for his music.
Beyond these individuals, there are limited historical records or references to the name Jayquan in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical documents. It is a relatively modern name that reflects the ongoing evolution of naming practices within the African American community.
People
Jayquan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jayquan 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
Jayquan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jayquan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,688 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jayquan 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 203,054 US residents.
Is Jayquan a common name?
We classify Jayquan as "Rare". It ranks above 93% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,716 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jayquan most popular?
The single biggest year for Jayquan was 2001, when 105 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jayquan is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jayquan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,166 people with the name Jayquan, or 0.39 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,141 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 Jayquan 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 Jayquan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jayquan leans strongly male. 1,158 people counted with this name were male (99.0%), compared with 12 female bearers (1.0%). 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 Jayquan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jayquan is Black at 84.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.6%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Jayquan most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jayquan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.6% (987 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 Jayquan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jayquan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jayquan 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 Jayquan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jayquan 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 Jayquan 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 the name Jayquan?
See how many people share the name Jayquan on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.