Jodene
A feminine given name of English origin, meaning "God will judge".
Name Census estimates that about 731 living Americans carry the first name Jodene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jodene today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jodene births was 1966 (51 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jodene. 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 Jodene with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
731
~ 1 in 468,884 Americans
Peak year
1966
51 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
1989 SSA rank
#13,265
Tracked since 1937
Census
Jodene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 888 people with the first name Jodene, which placed it at #13,554 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
#13,554
National first-name rank
People counted
888
888 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jodene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jodene is White at 88.6%. The next largest groups are Black (3.0%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (2.6%). 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 Jodene 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 Jodene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.6% · 787
- Black or African American3.0% · 27
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.6% · 23
- Two or more races2.5% · 22
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 21
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 8
Popularity
Jodene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jodene from the 1930s through to the 1980s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 395 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jodene 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 Jodene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jodenes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Wisconsin, Nebraska, California recorded the most babies named Jodene, while Iowa, Colorado, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jodene
The given name Jodene is a relatively modern invention, likely originating in the United States during the 20th century. It is believed to be a combination of the names Jo and Dene, with Jo being a common shortened form of names like Josephine or Joanna, and Dene being a variant spelling of the name Deane or Dean, which has English origins and means "valley" or "from the valley."
While the exact origins of Jodene are unclear, it appears to have gained popularity as a unique and feminine name in the mid-20th century. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the 1940 United States Census, where a woman named Jodene Lindsey was listed as residing in Texas.
Throughout the decades, several notable individuals have borne the name Jodene. One of the earliest was Jodene Sparks, an American actress and singer who was born in 1927 and appeared in various films and television shows in the 1950s and 1960s.
Another notable Jodene was Jodene Decker, an American professional wrestler who competed under the ring name Lady Rae. She was active in the 1970s and 1980s and is remembered for her successful career in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
In the world of sports, Jodene Sommer was an American professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. She achieved several victories throughout her career and was inducted into the Arizona Golf Hall of Fame in 2006.
Jodene Blilie was an American politician who served as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2001 to 2007, representing the Republican Party.
In the field of education, Jodene Goldenring was an American academic and educator who served as the president of Roosevelt University in Chicago from 1988 to 2003, making significant contributions to the institution's growth and development.
While not an exhaustive list, these examples illustrate the diverse backgrounds and accomplishments of individuals who have borne the name Jodene throughout history. Despite its relatively modern origins, the name has gained recognition and been adopted by individuals from various walks of life.
People
Jodene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jodene 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
Jodene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jodene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 731 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jodene 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 468,884 US residents.
Is Jodene a common name?
We classify Jodene as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 957 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jodene most popular?
The single biggest year for Jodene was 1966, when 51 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jodene is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jodene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 888 people with the name Jodene, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,554 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 Jodene 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 Jodene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jodene appears almost entirely female. Of the 886 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Jodene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jodene is White at 88.6%. The next largest groups are Black (3.0%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (2.6%). 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 Jodene most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jodene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.6% (787 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 Jodene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jodene a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jodene 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 Jodene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jodene 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 Jodene 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 Americans are named Jodene?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Jodene at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.