Jillian
A feminine name of English origin, derived from the name Juliana.
Name Census estimates that about 80,195 living Americans carry the first name Jillian. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jillian today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jillian births was 1982 (3,070 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jillian. 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 Jillian with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jillian is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 227 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Jillian have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
80K
~ 1 in 4,274 Americans
Peak year
1982
3,070 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2009 SSA rank
#1,132
Tracked since 1944
Census
Jillian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 78,772 people with the first name Jillian, which placed it at #670 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
#670
National first-name rank
People counted
79K
78,772 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
26.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jillian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jillian is White at 82.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.8%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Jillian 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 Jillian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.7% · 65,152
- Hispanic or Latino6.8% · 5,331
- Two or more races3.9% · 3,078
- Black or African American3.7% · 2,919
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 1,936
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 356
Gender
Gender distribution for Jillian
Out of the 83,245 babies given the name Jillian since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Jillian as a male name
- Ranked #13,372 in 2009
- 5 male births in 2009
- Peak: 1989 (18 births)
Jillian as a female name
- Ranked #1,132 in 2024
- 213 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1982 (3,056 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jillian appears almost entirely female. Of the 78,761 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Jillian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jillian from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 25,574 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
Jillian 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 Jillian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jillians live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, California, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Jillian, while Wyoming, North Dakota, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,597 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jillian
The name Jillian originated from the French name Juliana, which itself is derived from the Latin name Iulianus. Iulianus was a Roman family name that is thought to be associated with the gens Iulia, one of the most ancient patrician families in Ancient Rome. This family claimed descent from the mythological hero Iulus, son of Aeneas, who was the son of the goddess Venus in Roman mythology.
The name Juliana first gained popularity in the early days of Christianity due to the veneration of the 4th-century martyr Saint Juliana of Nicomedia. She was a young noblewoman from Caesarea in Cappadocia (modern-day Turkey) who was tortured and executed for her Christian faith during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. Her feast day is celebrated on February 16th in the Eastern Orthodox Church and on June 19th in the Roman Catholic Church.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Jillian can be found in the 12th-century epic poem "The Song of Roland," which tells the story of the heroic death of a Frankish military leader named Roland during the reign of Charlemagne. In the poem, Jillian is mentioned as the name of a character who is the sister of Roland.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Jillian. One of the most famous was Jillian of Thouars (c. 1091-1174), a Countess of Anjou and Duchess of Aquitaine. She was instrumental in securing the succession of her son, William X, as Duke of Aquitaine, and played a crucial role in the expansion of Angevin power during the 12th century.
Another notable Jillian was Jillian Balfour (1654-1705), a Scottish noblewoman and courtier at the court of King Charles II of England. She was known for her beauty and wit, and was a prominent figure in the literary circles of the time.
In the field of literature, Jillian Holtzmann was the name of a character in the 2016 film "Ghostbusters," played by actress Kate McKinnon. Jillian Holtzmann was an eccentric engineer and nuclear physicist who was a member of the team of ghost-hunting scientists.
Jillian Jenkinson (1935-2016) was a British actress and playwright who was best known for her roles in television series such as "The Avengers" and "Doctor Who" in the 1960s and 1970s.
Finally, Jillian Michaels (born 1974) is an American personal trainer, entrepreneur, and television personality. She is best known for her appearances on the reality television shows "The Biggest Loser" and "Losing It with Jillian," where she gained fame for her tough-love approach to fitness training.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jillian
People
Jillian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jillian 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
Jillian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jillian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 80,195 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jillian 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 4,274 US residents.
Is Jillian a common name?
We classify Jillian as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 83,245 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jillian most popular?
The single biggest year for Jillian was 1982, when 3,070 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jillian is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jillian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 78,772 people with the name Jillian, or 26.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #670 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 Jillian 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 Jillian?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jillian appears almost entirely female. Of the 78,761 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Jillian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jillian is White at 82.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.8%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Jillian most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jillian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.7% (65,152 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 Jillian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jillian a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Jillian 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 Jillian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jillian 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 Jillian 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 Jillian?
You can see how many people share the name Jillian on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.