Jed
Jed was given to 76 boys in 2025, #1,999 among boys’ names; 8,945 Americans have been recorded with it since 1913 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 7,650 Americans named Jed and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (86% of everyone recorded); the median is 45 years old and half are between 27 and 55.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Jed by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Jed mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Jed is “a diminutive of the male given name Jedidiah.”
/d͡ʒɛd/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Jed?
#1,999 among boys’ names, 2025
Jed fell from #1,923 in 2015 to #1,999 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 39.7 to 44.5 per million.
282 babies in 1978, the peak
Jed peaked in 1978, when 282 boys were given it, #484 among boys’ names. The 76 births of 2025 are 27% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 76 | #1,999 | 0.04 |
| 2024 | 78 | #1,989 | 0.05 |
| 2023 | 92 | #1,768 | 0.05 |
| 2022 | 72 | #2,088 | 0.04 |
| 2021 | 82 | #1,877 | 0.05 |
| 2020 | 96 | #1,666 | 0.06 |
| 2019 | 69 | #2,099 | 0.04 |
| 2018 | 56 | #2,367 | 0.03 |
| 2017 | 78 | #1,875 | 0.04 |
| 2016 | 64 | #2,153 | 0.03 |
Every recorded year (110)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 76 | #1,923 | 0.04 |
| 2014 | 76 | #1,911 | 0.04 |
| 2013 | 67 | #2,032 | 0.04 |
| 2012 | 63 | #2,144 | 0.03 |
| 2011 | 85 | #1,734 | 0.04 |
| 2010 | 59 | #2,222 | 0.03 |
| 2009 | 72 | #1,963 | 0.04 |
| 2008 | 60 | #2,219 | 0.03 |
| 2007 | 57 | #2,290 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 70 | #1,930 | 0.03 |
| 2005 | 79 | #1,694 | 0.04 |
| 2004 | 65 | #1,893 | 0.03 |
| 2003 | 92 | #1,431 | 0.05 |
| 2002 | 71 | #1,666 | 0.04 |
| 2001 | 80 | #1,515 | 0.04 |
| 2000 | 70 | #1,654 | 0.04 |
| 1999 | 57 | #1,766 | 0.03 |
| 1998 | 86 | #1,361 | 0.04 |
| 1997 | 78 | #1,403 | 0.04 |
| 1996 | 80 | #1,348 | 0.04 |
| 1995 | 83 | #1,286 | 0.04 |
| 1994 | 88 | #1,233 | 0.05 |
| 1993 | 86 | #1,217 | 0.04 |
| 1992 | 85 | #1,221 | 0.04 |
| 1991 | 75 | #1,295 | 0.04 |
| 1990 | 94 | #1,102 | 0.05 |
| 1989 | 125 | #905 | 0.06 |
| 1988 | 119 | #870 | 0.06 |
| 1987 | 129 | #820 | 0.07 |
| 1986 | 131 | #793 | 0.07 |
| 1985 | 145 | #733 | 0.08 |
| 1984 | 151 | #711 | 0.08 |
| 1983 | 171 | #653 | 0.10 |
| 1982 | 164 | #678 | 0.09 |
| 1981 | 227 | #567 | 0.13 |
| 1980 | 217 | #584 | 0.12 |
| 1979 | 219 | #576 | 0.13 |
| 1978 | 282 | #484 | 0.17 |
| 1977 | 240 | #538 | 0.15 |
| 1976 | 219 | #544 | 0.14 |
| 1975 | 214 | #551 | 0.14 |
| 1974 | 235 | #514 | 0.15 |
| 1973 | 155 | #639 | 0.10 |
| 1972 | 131 | #705 | 0.08 |
| 1971 | 143 | #694 | 0.08 |
| 1970 | 112 | #780 | 0.06 |
| 1969 | 105 | #764 | 0.06 |
| 1968 | 89 | #787 | 0.05 |
| 1967 | 68 | #871 | 0.04 |
| 1966 | 68 | #880 | 0.04 |
| 1965 | 66 | #914 | 0.04 |
| 1964 | 82 | #844 | 0.04 |
| 1963 | 95 | #782 | 0.05 |
| 1962 | 168 | #600 | 0.08 |
| 1961 | 184 | #584 | 0.09 |
| 1960 | 140 | #662 | 0.07 |
| 1959 | 128 | #674 | 0.06 |
| 1958 | 144 | #640 | 0.07 |
| 1957 | 120 | #695 | 0.06 |
| 1956 | 141 | #637 | 0.07 |
| 1955 | 136 | #639 | 0.07 |
| 1954 | 130 | #644 | 0.06 |
| 1953 | 102 | #702 | 0.05 |
| 1952 | 65 | #873 | 0.03 |
| 1951 | 65 | #869 | 0.03 |
| 1950 | 53 | #951 | 0.03 |
| 1949 | 57 | #916 | 0.03 |
| 1948 | 54 | #947 | 0.03 |
| 1947 | 53 | #977 | 0.03 |
| 1946 | 23 | #1,489 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 21 | #1,469 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 19 | #1,604 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 24 | #1,443 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 19 | #1,653 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 18 | #1,662 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 11 | #2,245 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 20 | #1,512 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 18 | #1,650 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 13 | #2,043 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 13 | #2,010 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 10 | #2,456 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 13 | #2,075 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 15 | #1,871 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 10 | #2,542 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 14 | #2,047 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 13 | #2,237 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 11 | #2,509 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 12 | #2,454 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 6 | #3,944 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 11 | #2,665 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 9 | #3,131 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 5 | #4,536 | under 0.01 |
| 1922 | 5 | #4,626 | under 0.01 |
| 1920 | 9 | #3,075 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 11 | #2,583 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 9 | #2,987 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 7 | #3,388 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 7 | #3,341 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 5 | #4,097 | 0.01 |
| 1913 | 5 | #3,043 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Jed a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Jed has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 110 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Jed: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Jed, and how old are they?
7,650 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 86% of the 8,945 Americans ever recorded as Jed. The median Jed alive today is 45 years old; half are between 27 and 55.
The 2020 Census counted 8,309 people named Jed (39 women and girls, 8,270 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 7,490 born in the U.S. The Census count is 11% above 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 61 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,340 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,300 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,850 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,130 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 975 |
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).
Where are babies named Jed born?
The states with the most babies named Jed are California, New York and Utah, with 44% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Utah is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 671 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| New York | 671 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Utah | 596 | not ranked | 6.3× |
| Texas | 334 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 264 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Minnesota | 218 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Wisconsin | 213 | #833 | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 186 | #1,171 | 0.4× |
| Illinois | 181 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Louisiana | 108 | not ranked | 0.6× |
Where Jed is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Jed is most over-represented in Utah: since 1913 it was given 6.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Jed with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 10,020 babies since 1880, Jed is the most given (89% of them). In 2025 it was given to 76 of their 85 babies (89%), 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 Jed
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 Jed and names like it
- Compare Jed and JeddBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sJed peaked in 1978.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Jed since 1910.
- The top names of 1978The year the most babies were named Jed.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Jed alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with JMost given first.