Jeremy
A masculine given name derived from the Hebrew name "Jeremiah", meaning "God uplifts" or "exalted by God".
Name Census estimates that about 426,504 living Americans carry the first name Jeremy. It sits at #266 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Jeremy today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jeremy births was 1977 (21,750 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jeremy. 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 Jeremy with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jeremy is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 2,312 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Jeremy have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
427K
~ 1 in 804 Americans
Peak year
1977
21,750 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#266
Tracked since 1923
Census
Jeremy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 372,710 people with the first name Jeremy, which placed it at #128 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
#128
National first-name rank
People counted
373K
372,710 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
123.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jeremy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeremy is White at 75.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.7%) and Black (8.1%). 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 Jeremy 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 Jeremy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.1% · 279,785
- Hispanic or Latino9.7% · 36,141
- Black or African American8.1% · 30,273
- Two or more races3.9% · 14,359
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 8,749
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 3,403
Gender
Gender distribution for Jeremy
Out of the 447,588 babies given the name Jeremy since 1880, 99.5% 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.
Jeremy as a male name
- Ranked #266 in 2024
- 1,308 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1977 (21,611 births)
Jeremy as a female name
- Ranked #16,723 in 2018
- 5 female births in 2018
- Peak: 1980 (140 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jeremy appears almost entirely male. Of the 372,715 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Jeremy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jeremy from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 154,429 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
Jeremy 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 Jeremy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jeremys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Jeremy, while Delaware, Wyoming, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8,711 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jeremy
The name Jeremy has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture. It is derived from the Hebrew name Yeremeyahu or Yeremeyah, which means "appointed by God" or "Yahweh has uplifted." The name can be traced back to ancient times and is found in the Old Testament of the Bible.
Jeremy is a variant of the name Jeremiah, which was the name of one of the major prophets in the Bible. The Book of Jeremiah, which is part of the Old Testament, chronicles the life and teachings of the prophet Jeremiah, who lived in the 7th century BC during the time of the Babylonian conquest of Judah.
The name Jeremy gained popularity in England during the Middle Ages, particularly after the Norman Conquest in 1066. It was a common name among the Norman nobility, and it spread throughout Britain and other parts of Europe.
Some notable historical figures named Jeremy include Jeremy Bentham, an English philosopher, jurist, and social reformer who lived from 1748 to 1832. He is best known for his utilitarian theory of ethics and his advocacy for the reform of prisons and the legal system. Another famous Jeremy was Jeremy Taylor, an English cleric, writer, and theologian who lived from 1613 to 1667. He was a influential preacher and a prominent figure in the Church of England during the 17th century.
Jeremy Collier, an English writer and non-juror who lived from 1650 to 1726, is also noteworthy. He was known for his criticism of the English stage and his efforts to reform the theater. Jeremy Diddler, a fictional character created by the American writer James Kirke Paulding in the early 19th century, became a popular cultural reference and a symbol of financial deception and trickery.
In the 20th century, notable individuals named Jeremy include Jeremy Brett, an English actor best known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in the TV series "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (1984-1994). Jeremy Irons, an English actor born in 1948, is another prominent figure, having won an Academy Award for his performance in the film "Reversal of Fortune" (1990).
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jeremy
People
Jeremy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jeremy 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
Jeremy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jeremy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 426,504 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jeremy 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 804 US residents.
Is Jeremy a common name?
We classify Jeremy as "Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 447,588 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jeremy most popular?
The single biggest year for Jeremy was 1977, when 21,750 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jeremy is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jeremy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 372,710 people with the name Jeremy, or 123.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #128 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 Jeremy 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 Jeremy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jeremy appears almost entirely male. Of the 372,715 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 Jeremy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeremy is White at 75.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.7%) and Black (8.1%). 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 Jeremy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jeremy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.1% (279,785 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 Jeremy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jeremy a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Jeremy 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 Jeremy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jeremy 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 Jeremy 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 Jeremy?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.