Jeri
A feminine given name of French origin meaning "kingdom".
Name Census estimates that about 17,447 living Americans carry the first name Jeri. It is a predominantly female name (98.4% of registrations). The average person named Jeri today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jeri births was 1957 (926 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jeri. 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 Jeri with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jeri is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 377 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
17K
~ 1 in 19,645 Americans
Peak year
1957
926 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
1990 SSA rank
#8,730
Tracked since 1918
Census
Jeri in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 18,865 people with the first name Jeri, which placed it at #1,660 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
#1,660
National first-name rank
People counted
19K
18,865 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jeri
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeri is White at 87.2%. The next largest groups are Black (4.7%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Jeri 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 Jeri at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.2% · 16,449
- Black or African American4.7% · 886
- Two or more races3.2% · 608
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 490
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 223
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 209
Gender
Gender distribution for Jeri
Jeri leans heavily female at 98.4% of total registrations, but 377 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jeri as a male name
- Ranked #8,730 in 1990
- 5 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1945 (18 births)
Jeri as a female name
- Ranked #9,176 in 2024
- 11 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1957 (915 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jeri leans strongly female. 18,518 people counted with this name were female (98.1%), compared with 350 male bearers (1.9%).
Popularity
Jeri: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jeri from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 7,464 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jeri 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 Jeri during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jeris live
The SSA's state-level files cover 46 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Jeri, while District of Columbia, Nevada, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 412 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jeri
The name Jeri is a diminutive form of the name Jeremiah, which is derived from the Hebrew name Yirmeyahu. The name Yirmeyahu is composed of two Hebrew words: "yarim," meaning "to raise or exalt," and "Yahweh," which is the name of the Hebrew God. Thus, the name Jeremiah and its diminutive form Jeri can be interpreted as "Yahweh has exalted" or "exalted by Yahweh."
The name Jeremiah has its roots in the Biblical figure of the same name, who was one of the major prophets in the Old Testament. Jeremiah lived in the 7th century BCE and is known for his prophecies and lamentations during the Babylonian conquest of Judah. His name and its variants, including Jeri, have been used throughout history by various religious and cultural groups influenced by the Bible and Judeo-Christian traditions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jeri is found in the Middle Ages. Jeri was a variant spelling used for the name Jeremiah in some medieval English documents and literature. During this period, the name was primarily associated with religious contexts and individuals with connections to the Church or monastic orders.
In the 16th century, a notable figure named Jeri Hoorne was a Flemish composer and music theorist who lived from around 1500 to 1568. He was known for his work on counterpoint and his contributions to the development of musical notation.
In the 18th century, Jeri Bentham was an English philosopher and social reformer who lived from 1748 to 1832. He was a prominent figure in the philosophy of utilitarianism and advocated for legal and social reforms based on the principle of maximizing happiness and well-being for the greatest number of people.
In the 19th century, Jeri Ellsworth was an American engineer and self-taught computer chip designer who lived from 1974 to 2016. She gained recognition for her work on developing low-cost and open-source hardware, particularly in the field of computer graphics and gaming.
Another notable figure with the name Jeri is Jeri Ryan, an American actress born in 1968. She is best known for her role as Seven of Nine on the science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager, which she played from 1997 to 2001.
These are just a few examples of individuals with the name Jeri throughout history, spanning various fields and time periods. While the name may have originated from a religious context, it has been adopted and used by people from diverse cultural backgrounds and professions.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jeri
People
Jeri + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jeri 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
Jeri: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jeri?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17,447 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jeri 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 19,645 US residents.
Is Jeri a common name?
We classify Jeri as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 23,009 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jeri most popular?
The single biggest year for Jeri was 1957, when 926 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jeri is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jeri in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 18,865 people with the name Jeri, or 6.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,660 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 Jeri 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 Jeri?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jeri leans strongly female. 18,518 people counted with this name were female (98.1%), compared with 350 male bearers (1.9%). 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 Jeri?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeri is White at 87.2%. The next largest groups are Black (4.7%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Jeri most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jeri in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.2% (16,449 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 Jeri in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jeri a female name?
Yes, 98.4% of people registered as Jeri in the SSA data are female. 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 Jeri still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jeri 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 Jeri 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 called Jeri?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.