Jocelyn
Jocelyn was given to 788 girls in 2025, #393 among girls’ names; 113,412 Americans have been recorded with it since 1900 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 109,000 Americans named Jocelyn and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 22 years old and half are between 15 and 31.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Jocelyn by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Jocelyn mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Jocelyn is “a female given name from the Germanic languages.” Its etymology gives the sense “a Geat, a Goth” (Gaut).
Also “a male given name from the Germanic languages.”
From the Middle English male given name from Old French Joscelin, German Gautzelin, diminutive of names beginning with the tribal name Gaut (“a Geat, a Goth”), the root form of which probably comes from Proto-Germanic *Gautalinþiz (from *gautaz + *linþaz); also used as a diminutive form of the Breton name Josse (= Joyce). It survived as a surname and was revived as a given name in the nineteenth century.
Jocelyn is currently popular among U.S. Hispanics, and in the Philippines, by folk etymology explained as a feminine diminutive form of José (Joseph).
/ˈd͡ʒɒsəlɪn/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Jocelyn?
#393 among girls’ names, 2025
Jocelyn fell from #133 in 2015 to #393 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 1.4 to 0.49 per 1,000.
5,304 babies in 2007, the peak
Jocelyn peaked in 2007, when 5,304 babies were given it (5,293 girls, #50 among girls’ names). The 788 births of 2025 are 15% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 788 | #393 | 0.49 |
| 2024 | 813 | #389 | 0.50 |
| 2023 | 890 | #346 | 0.55 |
| 2022 | 1,017 | #315 | 0.62 |
| 2021 | 1,093 | #293 | 0.67 |
| 2020 | 1,147 | #269 | 0.71 |
| 2019 | 1,520 | #200 | 0.91 |
| 2018 | 1,560 | #196 | 0.92 |
| 2017 | 1,843 | #163 | 1.1 |
| 2016 | 2,105 | #147 | 1.2 |
Every recorded year (117)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2,453 | #133 | 1.4 |
| 2014 | 2,764 | #115 | 1.5 |
| 2013 | 3,152 | #99 | 1.8 |
| 2012 | 3,232 | #93 | 1.8 |
| 2011 | 3,731 | #71 | 2.1 |
| 2010 | 3,997 | #65 | 2.2 |
| 2009 | 4,118 | #71 | 2.2 |
| 2008 | 4,372 | #67 | 2.3 |
| 2007 | 5,293 | #50 | 2.8 |
| 2006 | 4,370 | #73 | 2.3 |
| 2005 | 3,681 | #87 | 2.0 |
| 2004 | 3,743 | #85 | 2.0 |
| 2003 | 3,718 | #87 | 2.0 |
| 2002 | 3,521 | #92 | 2.0 |
| 2001 | 2,827 | #123 | 1.6 |
| 2000 | 2,746 | #122 | 1.5 |
| 1999 | 2,477 | #132 | 1.4 |
| 1998 | 2,583 | #128 | 1.5 |
| 1997 | 2,621 | #122 | 1.5 |
| 1996 | 2,509 | #127 | 1.4 |
| 1995 | 2,193 | #148 | 1.2 |
| 1994 | 2,059 | #157 | 1.2 |
| 1993 | 1,926 | #162 | 1.1 |
| 1992 | 1,843 | #164 | 1.0 |
| 1991 | 1,355 | #215 | 0.72 |
| 1990 | 1,318 | #217 | 0.69 |
| 1989 | 1,081 | #247 | 0.59 |
| 1988 | 1,104 | #238 | 0.62 |
| 1987 | 979 | #260 | 0.56 |
| 1986 | 851 | #292 | 0.50 |
| 1985 | 869 | #287 | 0.50 |
| 1984 | 869 | #277 | 0.52 |
| 1983 | 723 | #321 | 0.43 |
| 1982 | 741 | #327 | 0.44 |
| 1981 | 809 | #299 | 0.48 |
| 1980 | 761 | #318 | 0.46 |
| 1979 | 721 | #324 | 0.45 |
| 1978 | 827 | #279 | 0.54 |
| 1977 | 938 | #267 | 0.61 |
| 1976 | 424 | #455 | 0.29 |
| 1975 | 400 | #468 | 0.27 |
| 1974 | 389 | #462 | 0.27 |
| 1973 | 356 | #493 | 0.24 |
| 1972 | 351 | #501 | 0.23 |
| 1971 | 396 | #486 | 0.24 |
| 1970 | 413 | #484 | 0.24 |
| 1969 | 390 | #493 | 0.23 |
| 1968 | 324 | #530 | 0.20 |
| 1967 | 260 | #593 | 0.16 |
| 1966 | 297 | #550 | 0.18 |
| 1965 | 292 | #557 | 0.17 |
| 1964 | 262 | #625 | 0.14 |
| 1963 | 267 | #618 | 0.14 |
| 1962 | 222 | #692 | 0.11 |
| 1961 | 223 | #703 | 0.11 |
| 1960 | 228 | #674 | 0.11 |
| 1959 | 241 | #642 | 0.12 |
| 1958 | 306 | #559 | 0.15 |
| 1957 | 353 | #507 | 0.17 |
| 1956 | 404 | #458 | 0.20 |
| 1955 | 383 | #462 | 0.20 |
| 1954 | 304 | #507 | 0.16 |
| 1953 | 308 | #496 | 0.16 |
| 1952 | 255 | #534 | 0.14 |
| 1951 | 276 | #492 | 0.15 |
| 1950 | 136 | #738 | 0.08 |
| 1949 | 97 | #899 | 0.06 |
| 1948 | 79 | #979 | 0.05 |
| 1947 | 72 | #1,052 | 0.04 |
| 1946 | 70 | #1,008 | 0.04 |
| 1945 | 72 | #890 | 0.06 |
| 1944 | 47 | #1,148 | 0.04 |
| 1943 | 73 | #910 | 0.05 |
| 1942 | 62 | #994 | 0.05 |
| 1941 | 60 | #951 | 0.05 |
| 1940 | 56 | #961 | 0.05 |
| 1939 | 73 | #805 | 0.07 |
| 1938 | 44 | #1,081 | 0.04 |
| 1937 | 50 | #996 | 0.05 |
| 1936 | 72 | #798 | 0.07 |
| 1935 | 51 | #968 | 0.05 |
| 1934 | 75 | #777 | 0.07 |
| 1933 | 63 | #846 | 0.06 |
| 1932 | 62 | #893 | 0.06 |
| 1931 | 85 | #730 | 0.08 |
| 1930 | 67 | #887 | 0.06 |
| 1929 | 80 | #783 | 0.07 |
| 1928 | 64 | #931 | 0.06 |
| 1927 | 63 | #957 | 0.05 |
| 1926 | 45 | #1,140 | 0.04 |
| 1925 | 48 | #1,112 | 0.04 |
| 1924 | 44 | #1,194 | 0.04 |
| 1923 | 46 | #1,135 | 0.04 |
| 1922 | 24 | #1,755 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 33 | #1,420 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 25 | #1,680 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 23 | #1,718 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 20 | #1,921 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 27 | #1,452 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 24 | #1,559 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 11 | #2,615 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 10 | #2,342 | 0.01 |
| 1913 | 9 | #2,234 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 8 | #2,244 | 0.01 |
| 1911 | 5 | #2,664 | 0.01 |
| 1910 | 5 | #2,592 | 0.01 |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,828 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Jocelyn a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Jocelyn has been given almost only to girls: 351 boys in 117 years of records.
Girls and boys named Jocelyn: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Jocelyn, and how old are they?
109,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 113,412 Americans ever recorded as Jocelyn. The median Jocelyn alive today is 22 years old; half are between 15 and 31.
The 2020 Census counted 98,533 people named Jocelyn (97,756 women and girls, 777 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 104,927 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 331 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3,570 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 7,080 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 20,900 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 56,600 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 21,000 |
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 Jocelyn born?
The states with the most babies named Jocelyn are California, Texas and Florida, with 38% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 135 | #244 | 1.8× |
| Texas | 117 | #297 | 1.2× |
| Florida | 38 | #484 | 0.8× |
| New York | 35 | #488 | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 32 | #340 | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 27 | #421 | 0.7× |
| Illinois | 26 | #412 | 1.3× |
| Arizona | 26 | #275 | 1.2× |
| Georgia | 20 | #552 | 0.7× |
| Washington | 20 | #360 | 0.8× |
Where Jocelyn is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Jocelyn is most over-represented in California: since 1910 it was given 1.8 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 girls’ 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 Jocelyn 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 7 names spelled alike, given to 159,489 babies since 1880, Jocelyn is the most given (71% of them). In 2025 it was given to 788 of their 1,102 babies (72%), 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 Jocelyn
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 Jocelyn and names like it
- Compare Jocelyn and JoselynBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sJocelyn peaked in 2007.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Jocelyn since 1910.
- Germanic namesWiktionary’s origin for Jocelyn: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2007The year the most babies were named Jocelyn.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Jocelyn alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with JMost given first.