Yudith
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "Jewish woman" or "praised".
Name Census estimates that about 472 living Americans carry the first name Yudith. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Yudith today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yudith births was 2007 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yudith. 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.
People living today
472
~ 1 in 726,174 Americans
Peak year
2007
27 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,503
Tracked since 1981
Census
Yudith in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,386 people with the first name Yudith, which placed it at #9,853 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
#9,853
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,386 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
95.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yudith
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yudith is Hispanic at 95.9%. The next largest groups are White (2.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.9%). 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 Yudith 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 Yudith at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino95.9% · 1,329
- White2.7% · 38
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 12
- Black or African American0.3% · 4
- Two or more races0.2% · 3
Popularity
Yudith: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yudith from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 199 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
Yudith 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 Yudith during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yudiths live
Origin
Meaning and history of Yudith
The name Yudith is a variant of the Hebrew name Yehudit, derived from the root y-d-h, meaning "praise" or "give thanks." Its origins can be traced back to ancient Israel, where it was borne by the biblical heroine Judith, who played a pivotal role in delivering her people from the Assyrian army.
The Book of Judith, part of the Septuagint and the Catholic and Orthodox biblical canon, tells the story of Judith, a beautiful widow who used her charm and wit to infiltrate the camp of the Assyrian general Holofernes. After getting him drunk, she decapitated him, allowing the Israelites to ultimately defeat the Assyrian forces. This tale made Judith a symbol of courage, faith, and patriotism among the Jewish people.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Yudith can be found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, dating back to the 3rd century BCE. It appears in several texts, including the Wisdom of Ben Sira and the Book of Tobit, further solidifying its place in ancient Jewish tradition.
Throughout history, the name Yudith has been borne by various notable figures. One of the most famous was Yudith Montefiore (1784-1862), a philanthropist and wife of Sir Moses Montefiore, a prominent Jewish businessman and activist. She was known for her charitable work and support for Jewish education and welfare.
Another notable bearer of the name was Yudith Roitman (1926-2005), a Mexican painter and sculptor whose work was heavily influenced by her Jewish heritage and the Mexican muralist movement. Her vibrant and expressive pieces explored themes of identity, culture, and social issues.
In the realm of literature, Yudith Hendler (1917-2004) was a renowned Yiddish poet and author whose works chronicled the experiences of Jewish communities in Poland and Israel. Her poignant verses captured the resilience and struggles of her people, earning her numerous accolades and a place in the canon of Yiddish literature.
Yudith Bergner (1920-2007), an Israeli writer and activist, was a prominent figure in the struggle for women's rights and social justice in Israel. Her novels and essays shed light on the challenges faced by women in a patriarchal society, making her a pioneer in the Israeli feminist movement.
Finally, Yudith Oppenheimer (1924-2008) was a German-born Israeli linguist and expert in Semitic languages. Her groundbreaking research on the relationship between Hebrew and other Semitic tongues contributed significantly to the field of comparative linguistics and the study of ancient Near Eastern cultures.
People
Yudith + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yudith as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Y
Other first names starting with Y with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Yudith: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yudith?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 472 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yudith 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 726,174 US residents.
Is Yudith a common name?
We classify Yudith as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 481 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yudith most popular?
The single biggest year for Yudith was 2007, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yudith is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yudith in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,386 people with the name Yudith, or 0.46 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,853 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 Yudith 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 Yudith?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yudith appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,381 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Yudith?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yudith is Hispanic at 95.9%. The next largest groups are White (2.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.9%). 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 Yudith most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Yudith in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.9% (1,329 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 Yudith in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yudith a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yudith 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 Yudith still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yudith 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 Yudith 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 Yudith?
Want to know how many Americans are named Yudith? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.