Jazz
Jazz is given to both girls and boys: 12 girls and 35 boys were given it in 2025 (#8,577 among girls’ names and #3,340 among boys’, #5,867 among all names counting both); 1,555 Americans have been recorded with it since 1983 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,530 Americans named Jazz and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 21 years old and half are between 11 and 31.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Jazz by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Jazz mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Jazz is “a diminutive of the male given name Jasper.”
Also “a diminutive of the male given name James.”
A fanciful spelling variant of Jaz and Jas.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Jazz?
#3,340 among boys’ names, 2025
Jazz rose from #5,852 in 2015 to #3,340 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 7.8 to 20.5 per million.
63 babies in 1994, the peak
Jazz peaked in 1994, when 63 babies were given it (37 boys, #2,194 among boys’ names). The 47 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 75% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 12 | #8,577 | 35 | #3,340 |
| 2024 | 9 | #10,631 | 23 | #4,486 |
| 2023 | 12 | #8,690 | 29 | #3,836 |
| 2022 | 8 | #11,646 | 24 | #4,359 |
| 2021 | 9 | #10,637 | 28 | #3,859 |
| 2020 | 17 | #6,755 | 26 | #3,961 |
| 2019 | 19 | #6,274 | 17 | #5,430 |
| 2018 | 19 | #6,361 | 20 | #4,825 |
| 2017 | 18 | #6,654 | 26 | #4,032 |
| 2016 | 18 | #6,756 | 15 | #5,901 |
Every recorded year (43)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 14 | #8,185 | 15 | #5,852 |
| 2014 | 12 | #9,215 | 21 | #4,609 |
| 2013 | 22 | #5,906 | 18 | #5,061 |
| 2012 | 16 | #7,608 | 21 | #4,593 |
| 2011 | 13 | #8,852 | 22 | #4,424 |
| 2010 | 15 | #8,059 | 21 | #4,592 |
| 2009 | 16 | #7,847 | 19 | #5,014 |
| 2008 | 11 | #10,384 | 30 | #3,591 |
| 2007 | 18 | #7,223 | 30 | #3,547 |
| 2006 | 19 | #6,697 | 27 | #3,720 |
| 2005 | 17 | #6,967 | 18 | #4,710 |
| 2004 | 18 | #6,605 | 18 | #4,678 |
| 2003 | 21 | #5,669 | 21 | #4,038 |
| 2002 | 13 | #8,013 | 15 | #5,004 |
| 2001 | 16 | #6,761 | 15 | #4,993 |
| 2000 | 13 | #7,757 | 26 | #3,246 |
| 1999 | 19 | #5,516 | 25 | #3,220 |
| 1998 | 17 | #5,907 | 32 | #2,619 |
| 1997 | 24 | #4,434 | 24 | #3,099 |
| 1996 | 17 | #5,626 | 18 | #3,739 |
| 1995 | 21 | #4,742 | 36 | #2,227 |
| 1994 | 26 | #4,050 | 37 | #2,194 |
| 1993 | 20 | #4,890 | 32 | #2,366 |
| 1992 | 21 | #4,749 | 21 | #3,152 |
| 1991 | 19 | #5,065 | 35 | #2,110 |
| 1990 | 15 | #5,946 | 18 | #3,374 |
| 1989 | 13 | #6,301 | 23 | #2,726 |
| 1988 | 9 | #7,960 | 13 | #3,781 |
| 1987 | 6 | #10,385 | 14 | #3,408 |
| 1986 | under 5 | 5 | #7,183 | |
| 1985 | under 5 | 8 | #4,891 | |
| 1984 | under 5 | 7 | #5,217 | |
| 1983 | under 5 | 5 | #6,712 |
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 Jazz a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,555 Americans recorded as Jazz, 40% are girls and 60% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Jazz: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Jazz, and how old are they?
1,530 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 1,555 Americans ever recorded as Jazz. The median Jazz alive today is 21 years old; half are between 11 and 31.
The 2020 Census counted 2,023 people named Jazz (1,220 women and girls, 803 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,315 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.5 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.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 424 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 621 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 483 |
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 2 names spelled alike, given to 1,907 babies since 1880, Jazz is the most given (82% of them). In 2025 it was given to 47 of their 47 babies (100%), 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 Jazz
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 Jazz and names like it
- Compare Jazz and JazBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sJazz peaked in 1994.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Jazz since 1910.
- The top names of 1994The year the most babies were named Jazz.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Jazz alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with JMost given first.