Ja
Ja was given to 6 boys in 2025, #11,191 among boys’ names; 441 Americans have been recorded with it since 1957 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ja by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Ja?
#11,191 among boys’ names, 2025
Ja entered the boys’ rankings after 2015 and stood at #11,191 in 2025.
29 babies in 2000, the peak
Ja peaked in 2000, when 29 babies were given it (15 boys, #4,878 among boys’ names). The 6 births of 2025 are 21% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | under 5 | 6 | #11,191 | |
| 2024 | under 5 | 8 | #9,349 | |
| 2023 | under 5 | 7 | #10,142 | |
| 2022 | under 5 | 15 | #5,970 | |
| 2011 | under 5 | 6 | #11,387 | |
| 2010 | under 5 | 5 | #13,017 | |
| 2008 | under 5 | 5 | #13,306 | |
| 2007 | 5 | #18,715 | under 5 | |
| 2006 | under 5 | 7 | #9,977 | |
| 2005 | 5 | #17,487 | 5 | #12,123 |
Every recorded year (41)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 6 | #14,856 | 12 | #6,279 |
| 2003 | 5 | #16,718 | 9 | #7,483 |
| 2002 | 6 | #14,274 | 10 | #6,724 |
| 2001 | 6 | #14,193 | 15 | #4,976 |
| 2000 | 14 | #7,309 | 15 | #4,878 |
| 1999 | under 5 | 20 | #3,746 | |
| 1998 | 6 | #13,043 | 6 | #8,910 |
| 1997 | under 5 | 7 | #7,594 | |
| 1996 | under 5 | 5 | #9,590 | |
| 1995 | 7 | #10,960 | 10 | #5,656 |
| 1994 | 9 | #9,097 | 9 | #6,036 |
| 1993 | 11 | #7,707 | 6 | #8,031 |
| 1992 | under 5 | 5 | #8,954 | |
| 1991 | 9 | #8,862 | 7 | #6,817 |
| 1989 | under 5 | 9 | #5,338 | |
| 1986 | under 5 | 7 | #5,569 | |
| 1985 | under 5 | 5 | #6,955 | |
| 1984 | under 5 | 6 | #5,879 | |
| 1983 | under 5 | 11 | #3,724 | |
| 1982 | under 5 | 6 | #5,944 | |
| 1981 | 11 | #6,030 | 10 | #3,967 |
| 1980 | 6 | #9,511 | 7 | #5,168 |
| 1979 | 5 | #10,779 | 13 | #3,241 |
| 1978 | under 5 | 6 | #5,348 | |
| 1977 | under 5 | 6 | #5,413 | |
| 1976 | under 5 | 7 | #4,621 | |
| 1974 | under 5 | 5 | #5,543 | |
| 1971 | 7 | #6,869 | 7 | #4,143 |
| 1967 | 5 | #7,169 | under 5 | |
| 1959 | 7 | #5,236 | under 5 | |
| 1957 | 6 | #5,675 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Ja a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 441 Americans recorded as Ja, 31% are girls and 69% boys. In 2025 it went to 6 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Ja: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ja, and how old are they?
An estimated 423 Americans named Ja and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 30 years old and half are between 24 and 43. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 1,870 people named Ja (863 women and girls, 1,007 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 393 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4.8 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 209,571 babies since 1880, Ja is the sixth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 6 of their 1,067 babies (<1%), again the sixth most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
More about Ja and names like it
- Compare Ja and JayBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sJa peaked in 2000.
- Virginia’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ja since 1910.
- The top names of 2000The year the most babies were named Ja.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Ja alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with JMost given first.