Girls' name · peaked in 1930
Jean name popularity since 1925
385,763 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Jean (94.4% girls, 5.6% boys). Half of them were born in 1944 or earlier, so the typical Jean is about 82 years old in 2026. Jean peaked in 1930 as the #14 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 385,763
- Named Jean, 1925–2025
- Peak year
- 1930
- #14 for girls that year
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #2,130 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 94.4% girls
- 364,178 girls · 21,585 boys
- Most popular in
- Vermont
- 2.29× its national share
Peak year is the year Jean made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Jean births per year, 1925–2025
The biggest year by count was 1927. Measured as a share of all babies, Jean peaked in 1930.
- Steepest fall: Between 1970 and 1975, Jean's share of baby girls fell by 50%, from 1 in 828 to 1 in 1,650.
Shaded on the chart. This compares Jean's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Jean.
Decade by decade
Babies named Jean in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 60,352 | 1,479 | – |
| 1930s | 94,189 | 2,049 | #18 |
| 1940s | 80,363 | 1,573 | #38 |
| 1950s | 72,263 | 1,516 | #60 |
| 1960s | 37,280 | 1,831 | #112 |
| 1970s | 11,027 | 2,228 | #272 |
| 1980s | 4,858 | 2,617 | #461 |
| 1990s | 1,849 | 2,968 | #1,115 |
| 2000s | 829 | 2,617 | #2,268 |
| 2010s | 707 | 1,829 | #2,665 |
| 2020–25 | 461 | 878 | #2,130 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
43.9% of babies named Jean from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Silent Generation years (1928–1945). The full split by generation:
Where Jean is most popular
The index compares Jean's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Jean.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Vermont | 2.29× | 1,462 |
| Massachusetts | 2.28× | 20,775 |
| Wisconsin | 2.22× | 16,691 |
| Rhode Island | 2.07× | 2,801 |
| Maine | 1.97× | 3,226 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Jean and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Girls | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Jean (this page) | 364,178 | 1930 |
| Jeane | 3,129 | 1924 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Jean's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Jean.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Jean (1930).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data