Japheth
Japheth was given to 34 boys in 2025, #3,404 among boys’ names; 1,387 Americans have been recorded with it since 1970 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,350 Americans named Japheth and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 20 years old and half are between 10 and 33.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Japheth by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Japheth mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Japheth is “a male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.”
From Middle English Jafeth (as attested in Wycliffe’s Bible), from Old English Iafeth and Middle French Japhet, both from Late Latin Iaphet, Iafeth, from Koine Greek Ἰάφεθ (Iápheth), from Hebrew יֶפֶת (yépheth). Further origin uncertain; folk etymology as well as rabbinical and patristic claims usually point to a meaning like “enlarged”, in reference to Genesis 9:27, or “fair” (pale, in reference to complexion).
/ˈd͡ʒeɪfɛθ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Japheth?
#3,404 among boys’ names, 2025
Japheth fell from #2,785 in 2015 to #3,404 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 22.4 to 19.9 per million.
51 babies in 2007, the peak
Japheth peaked in 2007, when 51 boys were given it, #2,488 among boys’ names. The 34 births of 2025 are 67% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 34 | #3,404 | 19.9 |
| 2024 | 37 | #3,241 | 21.5 |
| 2023 | 33 | #3,504 | 19.3 |
| 2022 | 34 | #3,433 | 19.5 |
| 2021 | 26 | #4,058 | 14.9 |
| 2020 | 42 | #2,858 | 24.3 |
| 2019 | 34 | #3,381 | 18.9 |
| 2018 | 40 | #2,964 | 22.0 |
| 2017 | 35 | #3,271 | 18.9 |
| 2016 | 39 | #3,027 | 20.6 |
Every recorded year (55)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 43 | #2,785 | 22.4 |
| 2014 | 43 | #2,772 | 22.4 |
| 2013 | 37 | #3,021 | 19.6 |
| 2012 | 27 | #3,834 | 14.2 |
| 2011 | 35 | #3,201 | 18.4 |
| 2010 | 28 | #3,753 | 14.6 |
| 2009 | 40 | #2,970 | 20.2 |
| 2008 | 21 | #4,606 | 10.3 |
| 2007 | 51 | #2,488 | 24.6 |
| 2006 | 39 | #2,900 | 19.0 |
| 2005 | 33 | #3,116 | 16.5 |
| 2004 | 27 | #3,488 | 13.6 |
| 2003 | 33 | #2,955 | 16.7 |
| 2002 | 28 | #3,214 | 14.4 |
| 2001 | 29 | #3,092 | 14.9 |
| 2000 | 26 | #3,243 | 13.2 |
| 1999 | 29 | #2,895 | 15.1 |
| 1998 | 27 | #2,962 | 14.1 |
| 1997 | 24 | #3,095 | 12.7 |
| 1996 | 19 | #3,597 | 10.0 |
| 1995 | 15 | #4,139 | 7.9 |
| 1994 | 15 | #4,175 | 7.8 |
| 1993 | 21 | #3,187 | 10.7 |
| 1992 | 18 | #3,515 | 9.0 |
| 1991 | 11 | #4,901 | 5.4 |
| 1990 | 13 | #4,262 | 6.3 |
| 1989 | 17 | #3,371 | 8.5 |
| 1988 | 16 | #3,262 | 8.4 |
| 1987 | 9 | #4,715 | 4.8 |
| 1986 | 19 | #2,723 | 10.3 |
| 1985 | 13 | #3,492 | 7.0 |
| 1984 | 19 | #2,570 | 10.5 |
| 1983 | 30 | #1,840 | 16.7 |
| 1982 | 19 | #2,546 | 10.5 |
| 1981 | 20 | #2,444 | 11.2 |
| 1980 | 14 | #3,167 | 7.8 |
| 1979 | 30 | #1,848 | 17.4 |
| 1978 | 27 | #1,892 | 16.4 |
| 1977 | 14 | #2,970 | 8.5 |
| 1976 | 17 | #2,548 | 10.8 |
| 1975 | 13 | #2,979 | 8.3 |
| 1974 | 6 | #4,888 | 3.8 |
| 1973 | 6 | #4,760 | 3.8 |
| 1971 | 7 | #4,147 | 4.0 |
| 1970 | 5 | #5,046 | 2.7 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Japheth a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Japheth has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 55 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Japheth: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Japheth, and how old are they?
1,350 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 1,387 Americans ever recorded as Japheth. The median Japheth alive today is 20 years old; half are between 10 and 33.
The 2020 Census counted 1,076 people named Japheth (10 women and girls, 1,066 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,165 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 127 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 260 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 489 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 473 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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 3 names spelled alike, given to 1,926 babies since 1880, Japheth is the most given (72% of them). In 2025 it was given to 34 of their 58 babies (59%), again the 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.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Japheth
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Japheth and names like it
- Compare Japheth and JaphetBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sJapheth peaked in 2007.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Japheth since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Japheth: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2007The year the most babies were named Japheth.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Japheth alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with JMost given first.