Job
A Hebrew name meaning "persecuted" or "afflicted".
Name Census estimates that about 3,098 living Americans carry the first name Job. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Job today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Job births was 2004 (89 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Job. 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 Job with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.1K
~ 1 in 110,637 Americans
Peak year
2004
89 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,318
Tracked since 1891
Census
Job in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,668 people with the first name Job, which placed it at #4,886 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
#4,886
National first-name rank
People counted
3.7K
3,668 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
42.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Job
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Job is Hispanic at 42.9%. The next largest groups are White (27.8%) and Black (17.3%). 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 Job 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 Job at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino42.9% · 1,573
- White27.8% · 1,019
- Black or African American17.3% · 633
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.3% · 304
- Two or more races3.1% · 113
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 26
Popularity
Job: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Job from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 759 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Job remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Job 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 Job during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jobs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Job, while Washington, Ohio, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 92 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Job
The name Job is believed to have originated from the Hebrew word "iyov," which means "persecuted" or "afflicted one." Its roots can be traced back to ancient Semitic cultures, and the name appears in various ancient texts and religious scriptures.
The Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible is one of the earliest known references to the name. It tells the story of a righteous man named Job who endures immense suffering and tests of his faith. The book is believed to have been written between the 7th and 4th centuries BCE, highlighting the antiquity of the name.
In the New Testament, the name Job is mentioned in the Epistle of James, which draws parallels between Job's perseverance and the trials faced by early Christian believers. This further solidified the name's association with endurance and faith in the face of adversity.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Job was Job ben Nun, a biblical figure who lived during the time of Moses and was one of the twelve spies sent to explore the land of Canaan. He is celebrated for his unwavering faith and courage.
Throughout history, the name Job has been borne by various notable individuals, including Job of Prokopion (4th century CE), a Christian martyr and saint; Job of Manyava (14th century), a Russian monk and saint; Job Ludolf (1624-1704), a German scholar and orientalist; Job Barter (1650-1705), an English clergyman and writer; and Job Harriman (1789-1865), an American businessman and politician.
The name Job has been interpreted as a symbol of patience, perseverance, and unwavering faith in the face of adversity. Its biblical and religious connotations have contributed to its enduring popularity across various cultures and time periods, making it a name with a rich historical and cultural significance.
People
Job + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Job 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
Job: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Job?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,098 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Job 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 110,637 US residents.
Is Job a common name?
We classify Job as "Rare". It ranks above 95.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,350 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Job most popular?
The single biggest year for Job was 2004, when 89 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Job is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Job in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,668 people with the name Job, or 1.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,886 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 Job 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 Job?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Job appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,667 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Job?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Job is Hispanic at 42.9%. The next largest groups are White (27.8%) and Black (17.3%). 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 Job most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Job in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.9% (1,573 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 Job in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Job a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Job 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 Job still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Job 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 Job 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 Job?
See how many people share the name Job on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.