Jerzy
A Polish form of the masculine name George, derived from Greek meaning "farmer".
Name Census estimates that about 312 living Americans carry the first name Jerzy. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 55.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Jerzy today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jerzy births was 2010 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jerzy. 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 Jerzy with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
312
~ 1 in 1,098,572 Americans
Peak year
2010
22 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2023 SSA rank
#7,479
Tracked since 1968
Census
Jerzy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,971 people with the first name Jerzy, which placed it at #5,682 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
#5,682
National first-name rank
People counted
3.0K
2,971 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
96.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jerzy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jerzy is White at 96.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.7%) and Two or More Races (1.0%). 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 Jerzy 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 Jerzy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White96.1% · 2,854
- Hispanic or Latino1.7% · 50
- Two or more races1.0% · 31
- Black or African American0.8% · 24
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Jerzy
Jerzy is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 317 total registrations, 177 (55.8%) were male and 140 (44.2%) were female.
Jerzy as a male name
- Ranked #7,479 in 2023
- 11 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2010 (15 births)
Jerzy as a female name
- Ranked #12,814 in 2022
- 7 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2008 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jerzy leans strongly male. 2,845 people counted with this name were male (95.7%), compared with 127 female bearers (4.3%).
Popularity
Jerzy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jerzy from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 125 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Jerzy remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jerzy 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 Jerzy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jerzy
Jerzy is a masculine given name of Polish origin, derived from the Greek name Georgios, meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker". The name has been in use in Poland since the Middle Ages and has its roots in Eastern Christianity.
The name Jerzy is a variation of the ancient Greek name Georgios, which was popularized by several early Christian saints and martyrs, including St. George, the patron saint of England. The name Georgios was introduced to Poland through the influence of the Byzantine Empire and the spread of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in the region.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jerzy in Poland dates back to the 11th century, when a Polish nobleman named Jerzy Wszebor (c. 1050-1112) is mentioned in historical records. Wszebor was a powerful landowner and military commander who played a significant role in the early Polish state.
In the 14th century, Jerzy Nadbor (c. 1310-1380) was a prominent Polish nobleman and military leader who fought against the Teutonic Knights during the Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic War. He is remembered for his bravery and strategic skills on the battlefield.
During the Renaissance period, Jerzy Ossoliński (1595-1650) was a Polish nobleman, diplomat, and political writer who served as the Grand Chancellor of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He is known for his influential works on political theory and his contributions to Polish literature.
In the 18th century, Jerzy Poniatowski (1763-1813) was a Polish prince, military leader, and a nephew of King Stanisław August Poniatowski. He played a crucial role in the Napoleonic Wars, serving as a marshal in the French army. Poniatowski is celebrated as a national hero in Poland for his bravery and dedication to the cause of Polish independence.
Another notable figure with the name Jerzy is Jerzy Grotowski (1933-1999), a Polish theatre director and theorist who pioneered the concept of "poor theatre" and had a significant impact on modern experimental theatre.
People
Jerzy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jerzy 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
Jerzy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jerzy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 312 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jerzy 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 1,098,572 US residents.
Is Jerzy a common name?
We classify Jerzy as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 317 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jerzy most popular?
The single biggest year for Jerzy was 2010, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jerzy is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jerzy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,971 people with the name Jerzy, or 0.98 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,682 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 Jerzy 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 Jerzy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jerzy leans strongly male. 2,845 people counted with this name were male (95.7%), compared with 127 female bearers (4.3%). 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 Jerzy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jerzy is White at 96.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.7%) and Two or More Races (1.0%). 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 Jerzy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jerzy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.1% (2,854 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 Jerzy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jerzy a male name?
Yes, 55.8% of people registered as Jerzy 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 Jerzy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jerzy 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 Jerzy 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 Jerzy?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.