Jude
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "praised".
Name Census estimates that about 53,124 living Americans carry the first name Jude. It sits at #156 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (94.6% of registrations). The average person named Jude today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jude births was 2015 (2,806 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jude. 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 Jude with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Jude is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
53K
~ 1 in 6,452 Americans
Peak year
2015
2,806 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#156
Tracked since 1912
Census
Jude in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 42,720 people with the first name Jude, which placed it at #1,007 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
#1,007
National first-name rank
People counted
43K
42,720 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
14.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jude
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jude is White at 70.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.9%) and Black (7.9%). 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 Jude 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 Jude at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.2% · 29,970
- Hispanic or Latino11.9% · 5,088
- Black or African American7.9% · 3,396
- Two or more races6.3% · 2,682
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 1,336
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 248
Gender
Gender distribution for Jude
Jude leans heavily male at 94.6% of total registrations, but 2,930 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jude as a male name
- Ranked #156 in 2024
- 2,284 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (2,668 births)
Jude as a female name
- Ranked #2,156 in 2024
- 88 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (146 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jude leans strongly male. 39,973 people counted with this name were male (93.6%), compared with 2,742 female bearers (6.4%).
Popularity
Jude: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jude from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 26,250 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jude remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jude 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 Jude during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Judes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Jude, while Vermont, Wyoming, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 984 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jude
The name Jude has its origins in ancient Judea, a region located in the southern part of the Levant, where it was derived from the Hebrew name "Judah". The name itself is rooted in the Hebrew word "yadah", which means "to praise" or "to give thanks". It was a popular name among the Jewish community in Judea during Biblical times and has maintained its significance throughout history.
One of the earliest and most notable references to the name Jude can be found in the Bible, particularly in the Book of Genesis, where Judah is mentioned as one of the twelve sons of Jacob. The name is also found in the New Testament, where it is associated with Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, and Jude the Apostle, the author of the Epistle of Jude.
The name Jude gained widespread popularity during the early Christian era, as it was adopted by numerous saints and religious figures. One of the most notable individuals bearing this name was St. Jude Thaddeus, one of the Twelve Apostles, who is venerated as the patron saint of hopeless causes and difficult situations.
Throughout history, the name Jude has been associated with various notable individuals, including Jude the Obscure (1857-1922), the protagonist of the novel by Thomas Hardy, and Jude Law (born 1972), the British actor known for his roles in films such as "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "Sherlock Holmes".
Other famous people named Jude include Jude Ciccolella (born 1942), an American character actor; Jude Deveraux (born 1947), an American author of historical romance novels; and Jude Taylor (1952-1998), an English singer-songwriter and guitarist.
In addition to these individuals, there have been several notable literary and artistic works that have featured the name Jude, further solidifying its cultural significance. For example, "Hey Jude" by The Beatles, released in 1968, is one of the most famous and influential songs in rock music history.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jude
People
Jude + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jude 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
Jude: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jude?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 53,124 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jude 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 6,452 US residents.
Is Jude a common name?
We classify Jude as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 54,503 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jude most popular?
The single biggest year for Jude was 2015, when 2,806 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jude is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jude in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 42,720 people with the name Jude, or 14.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,007 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 Jude 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 Jude?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jude leans strongly male. 39,973 people counted with this name were male (93.6%), compared with 2,742 female bearers (6.4%). 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 Jude?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jude is White at 70.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.9%) and Black (7.9%). 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 Jude most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jude in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.2% (29,970 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 Jude in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jude a male name?
Yes, 94.6% of people registered as Jude 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 Jude still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jude 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 Jude 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 Jude?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.