Jeronimo
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "having a sacred name".
Name Census estimates that about 2,013 living Americans carry the first name Jeronimo. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jeronimo today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jeronimo births was 2023 (80 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jeronimo. 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.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 170,270 Americans
Peak year
2023
80 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,174
Tracked since 1912
Census
Jeronimo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,101 people with the first name Jeronimo, which placed it at #4,514 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
#4,514
National first-name rank
People counted
4.1K
4,101 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
93.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jeronimo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeronimo is Hispanic at 93.5%. The next largest groups are White (3.6%) and Black (1.1%). 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 Jeronimo 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 Jeronimo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino93.5% · 3,836
- White3.6% · 148
- Black or African American1.1% · 47
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 41
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 16
- Two or more races0.3% · 13
Popularity
Jeronimo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jeronimo from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 603 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jeronimo remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jeronimo 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 Jeronimo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jeronimos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Jeronimo, while New York, North Carolina, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 144 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jeronimo
The name Jeronimo has its origins in the Late Latin name Hieronymus, derived from the Greek name Hieronymos. This name can be traced back to the Classical Greek era, from around the 5th century BCE to the 5rd century CE. Hieronymos is composed of the elements hieros, meaning "sacred," and onyma, meaning "name." Essentially, the name means "sacred name" or "holy name."
The name Hieronymus was borne by several early Christian saints and scholars, the most famous being St. Jerome (c. 347-420 CE). St. Jerome was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian who is best known for his translation of the Bible into Latin, known as the Vulgate. His scholarly works had a profound influence on the development of Christianity in the West.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jeronimo comes from the 12th century. Jerónimo de Santa Fe (1350-1419) was a Spanish Jewish convert to Christianity who engaged in public disputations with Jewish scholars, arguing for the truth of Christianity. He played a significant role in the religious controversies of his time.
In the 16th century, Jerónimo Zurita (1512-1580) was a renowned Spanish historian and chronicler who wrote extensively on the history of Aragon and Spain. His works are considered among the most important sources on Spanish history from that period.
Another notable figure was Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont (1553-1613), a Spanish inventor and engineer who is credited with designing one of the earliest steam-powered machines. His work laid the groundwork for the development of the steam engine.
In the 17th century, Jerónimo de Pasamonte (1553-1622) was a Spanish writer and soldier who is best known for his picaresque novel, "The Life of Jerónimo de Pasamonte." The novel provides a vivid portrayal of the life of a soldier and adventurer during the Golden Age of Spanish literature.
Jeronimo de Aguilar (c. 1489-1531) was a Spanish sailor who was shipwrecked and captured by Maya people on the Yucatán Peninsula in 1511. He lived among the Maya for eight years and played a crucial role as an interpreter during the Spanish conquest of Mexico, facilitating communication between the Spanish and indigenous populations.
These are just a few examples of notable figures throughout history who bore the name Jeronimo, illustrating its rich historical and cultural significance across various fields, including religion, literature, history, and exploration.
People
Jeronimo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jeronimo 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
Jeronimo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jeronimo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,013 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jeronimo 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 170,270 US residents.
Is Jeronimo a common name?
We classify Jeronimo as "Rare". It ranks above 93.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,198 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jeronimo most popular?
The single biggest year for Jeronimo was 2023, when 80 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jeronimo is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jeronimo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,101 people with the name Jeronimo, or 1.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,514 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 Jeronimo 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 Jeronimo?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jeronimo appears almost entirely male. Of the 4,107 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Jeronimo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeronimo is Hispanic at 93.5%. The next largest groups are White (3.6%) and Black (1.1%). 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 Jeronimo most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Jeronimo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.5% (3,836 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 Jeronimo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jeronimo a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jeronimo 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 Jeronimo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jeronimo 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 Jeronimo 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 common is the name Jeronimo?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Jeronimo, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.