Jetta
A feminine name derived from the gemstone jet, meaning dark.
Name Census estimates that about 1,428 living Americans carry the first name Jetta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jetta today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jetta births was 2009 (50 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jetta. 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 Jetta with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 240,024 Americans
Peak year
2009
50 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,737
Tracked since 1887
Census
Jetta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,447 people with the first name Jetta, which placed it at #9,556 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
#9,556
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,447 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jetta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jetta is White at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Black (11.8%) and Two or More Races (5.9%). 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 Jetta 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 Jetta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.9% · 1,084
- Black or African American11.8% · 171
- Two or more races5.9% · 86
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 77
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 12
Popularity
Jetta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jetta from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 403 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
Jetta 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 Jetta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jettas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho recorded the most babies named Jetta, while Texas, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jetta
The name Jetta is a relatively modern invention, believed to have been created in the 20th century. It does not have a clear linguistic origin or etymology, and is likely a combination of sounds that were chosen for their aesthetic appeal rather than any specific meaning.
One theory suggests that Jetta may be a feminized version of the name Jett, which is an English surname derived from the French name Gette or Jet. These names are thought to have their roots in the Old French word "jeter," meaning "to throw." However, the connection between Jetta and these older names is tenuous at best.
Despite its lack of historical roots, the name Jetta has gained some popularity in recent decades. One of the earliest known individuals to bear the name was Jetta Goudal, an American actress born in 1891 who appeared in several films during the silent era. Another early bearer of the name was Jetta Norris, an American novelist and journalist who lived from 1918 to 2005.
In more recent times, Jetta has become associated with the popular Volkswagen car model of the same name, which was first introduced in 1979. While the car's name was likely chosen for its catchy sound rather than any specific meaning, it may have contributed to the increased use of Jetta as a given name for baby girls.
One notable modern bearer of the name is Jetta Johnson, an American singer and actress born in 1977. She is best known for her role in the television series Ghostwriter and her work as a voice actress in various animated projects.
Another individual named Jetta is Jetta Dexter, a British artist and illustrator born in 1989. She is known for her whimsical illustrations and has published several books featuring her artwork.
While Jetta may not have a rich historical background, it has gained a foothold in modern times as a unique and distinctive name. Its simplicity and lack of traditional meaning allow it to be a blank canvas for those who bear it, free from the constraints of long-standing cultural associations.
People
Jetta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jetta 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
Jetta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jetta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,428 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jetta 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 240,024 US residents.
Is Jetta a common name?
We classify Jetta as "Rare". It ranks above 92.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,240 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jetta most popular?
The single biggest year for Jetta was 2009, when 50 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jetta is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jetta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,447 people with the name Jetta, or 0.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,556 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 Jetta 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 Jetta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jetta leans strongly female. 1,431 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 18 male bearers (1.2%). 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 Jetta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jetta is White at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Black (11.8%) and Two or More Races (5.9%). 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 Jetta most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jetta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.9% (1,084 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 Jetta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jetta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jetta 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 Jetta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jetta 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 Jetta 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 Jetta?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.