Boy Names Starting With J

Ranks are each name's overall position among all 2025 boy names, so the gaps between rows are real — the names in between simply start with other letters. Want a random shortlist instead? Spin J boy names in the generator, or browse the full top 100 boy names.

How common J names are

11.2% of the births in the 2025 boys' top 1,000 went to a name starting with J — 91 names in all, giving the initial the largest share among the 26 initials. The letter's #1 name, James, holds overall rank #6 with 11,945 births; its 50th and last name, Jeffrey, was recorded 544 times at #552.

That 11.2% is J's births inside the 2025 top 1,000 divided by the births of all 1,000 names — the convention the reading ranks and counts guide walks through — and the 91-name count is taken at that same depth, not at the 50-name depth of the table above.

J names across the decades

Counting only names inside each snapshot's top 200, the J tally for boys runs 23 in 1955, 21 in 1965, 31 in 1975, 33 in 1985, 28 in 1995, 31 in 2005, 29 in 2015 — highest in 1985, lowest in 1965. The leading name was James (#3) in 1955 and Jacob (#4) in 2015. Cut to the same top-200 depth, the 2025 list holds 29 J names, led by James at #6. 5 different names hold the lead across those snapshots: James, John, Jason, Joshua, and Jacob. 9 of the 50 names on the 2025 table appear in every one of the 7 snapshot top-200 lists: James, Jack, John, Joseph, Jonathan, Jose, Juan, Jesse, and Joel.

J names held 16.2% of the top-200 births for boys in 1955 and 17.0% in 2015; at the same depth in 2025 the figure is 13.5%. The first-letter trends guide sets J's share beside the other 25 initials for every snapshot year from 1955 to 2015, for both sexes.

Faded and new

The snapshot lists hold 16 J names for boys that the 2025 top 50 does not: Jase (2015, best #182 in 2015), Jerry (1955–1995, best #33 in 1955), Jonathon (1985, 1995, best #139 in 1985), Jeffery (1955–1985, best #47 in 1965), Jamie (1975, 1985, best #62 in 1975), Joe (1955–1985, best #68 in 1955), Jimmy (1955–1985, best #78 in 1955), Jon (1955–1985, best #78 in 1965), Jerome (1955–1985, best #112 in 1955), Jermaine (1975, best #176 in 1975), Jaime (1975, best #179 in 1975), Jeff (1955, 1965, best #62 in 1965), Jim (1955, 1965, best #116 in 1965), Jackie (1955, best #148 in 1955), Johnnie (1955, best #190 in 1955), and Jimmie (1955, best #192 in 1955). The years in parentheses are the snapshot years whose top 200 included the name; the most recent of them to chart is Jase, in 2015.

In the other direction, 11 of the 50 names on the 2025 list are absent from every snapshot top 200: Jasper (#129), Jett (#169), Judah (#178), Jaziel (#198), Jensen (#282), Jax (#342), Joaquin (#355), Julius (#424), Jasai (#439), Jalen (#443), and Jasiah (#498).

Read both lists against the depths that produce them — 200 ranks per snapshot year, 50 names for J in 2025 with the last at #552: a name missing from a snapshot may sit below rank 200 that year, and a name missing from the 2025 list may sit below Jeffrey; the committed files do not say.

Shape of the list

By the generator's length classes, the 50 names on the 2025 table split into 11 short spellings of four letters or fewer (Jack, for one), 36 medium spellings of five to seven (James, for one), and 3 long spellings of eight or more (Jeremiah, for one). The longest spelling on the 2025 list is Johnathan at 9 letters; the shortest, at 3, are Jax and Jay.

Every one of the 50 names ranks inside the 2025 top 1,000 that the generator's latest era samples; they divide into 13 inside the top 100 (1 inside the top 10), 35 at ranks 101–500, and 2 at 501–1,000.

1 name on this list also appears on the 2025 girls' J list, each ranked separately per sex by the SSA: Jordan (#131 for boys, #584 for girls). Second letters on the 2025 list number 4; a leads them, opening 23 of the 50 names (Ja-), with Jo- (14) next.

J boy names: questions answered from the data

Other letters

Girl names for this letter: girl names starting with J.

Source: every name, rank, and count on this page comes from the U.S. Social Security Administration's national baby-names dataset (2025 data, from Social Security card applications). It is public-domain U.S. government data; names given fewer than 5 times in a year are excluded by the SSA, spelling variants are counted separately, and the data covers U.S. births only. Full caveats on the methodology page.