Head to head · Boys' names
Jasper vs Jonah
#129 vs #128 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Jonah is a whisker ahead (#128 vs #129 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Jonah leads 3 measures of 6; Jasper leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Jasper #165, Jonah #708 — Jasper higher
- 1890s: Jasper #197, Jonah #841 — Jasper higher
- 1900s: Jasper #233, Jonah #1036 — Jasper higher
- 1910s: Jasper #257, Jonah #1238 — Jasper higher
- 1920s: Jasper #292, Jonah #1285 — Jasper higher
- 1930s: Jasper #360, Jonah #1397 — Jasper higher
- 1940s: Jasper #427, Jonah #1427 — Jasper higher
- 1950s: Jasper #529, Jonah #1428 — Jasper higher
- 1960s: Jasper #669, Jonah #1451 — Jasper higher
- 1970s: Jasper #761, Jonah #653 — Jonah higher
- 1980s: Jasper #661, Jonah #523 — Jonah higher
- 1990s: Jasper #656, Jonah #373 — Jonah higher
- 2000s: Jasper #507, Jonah #169 — Jonah higher
- 2010s: Jasper #219, Jonah #142 — Jonah higher
- 2020s: Jasper #130, Jonah #130
Jasper stood higher in 9 of 14 decades; Jonah has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Jasper | Jonah |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #165 | #708 |
| 1890s | #197 | #841 |
| 1900s | #233 | #1036 |
| 1910s | #257 | #1238 |
| 1920s | #292 | #1285 |
| 1930s | #360 | #1397 |
| 1940s | #427 | #1427 |
| 1950s | #529 | #1428 |
| 1960s | #669 | #1451 |
| 1970s | #761 | #653 |
| 1980s | #661 | #523 |
| 1990s | #656 | #373 |
| 2000s | #507 | #169 |
| 2010s | #219 | #142 |
| 2020s | #130 | #130 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Jasper
- England & Wales#71
- Canada#80
Jonah
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Jasper
treasure-bearer, treasurer
The leading reading traces Caspar/Jasper to an Old Persian word for a treasurer or treasure-bringer — fitting for a wise man arriving with gifts. A second thread points to the gemstone jasper, which came into Greek as iaspis from a Semitic source and has its own separate history; the two have shared a spelling long enough that many families take the stone as the meaning.
Gaspar → Caspar → Jaspar → Jasper
How it traveled
The three visitors in the Gospel of Matthew are unnamed; the names Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar were attached to them in Latin and Greek church tradition in the early medieval centuries, and from there Caspar spread across Europe as a Christian given name. English speakers turned the hard C into a J, producing Jaspar and then Jasper, in use in England from the fifteenth century onward.
Jonah
Dove
Hebrew yonah, the bird. The same word appears in the Genesis flood story, of the dove sent out from the ark.
Yonah → Ionas → Jonas → Jonah
How it traveled
The name belongs first to the Book of Jonah, a Hebrew text of the prophet swallowed by a great fish and delivered to Nineveh. The Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible rendered Yonah as Ionas, Latin took it as Jonas, and that s-form is still the standard one across much of Europe.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Jasper
JAS-per
Stress on the first syllable, rhyming with the stone. Speakers of Spanish, French and Polish will reach for their own version — Gaspar, Gaspard, Kacper — but the English pronunciation gives almost no one trouble.
- Jazz — The most common informal short form in English; also stands alone as a nickname unrelated to the name.
- Jas — Clipped and casual, used mostly within families and among friends.
- Jasp — A blunt one-syllable form heard among schoolmates rather than adults.
- Casper — Not a shortening but the continental form of the same name; occasionally used as an affectionate alternative.
Jonah
JOH-nuh
Two syllables, stress on the first. The final h is silent — it marks the Hebrew spelling rather than a sound. Distinct from Jonas, which keeps the s aloud.
- Jo — The usual informal clip, at home and among friends; spelled Joe by some families.
- Joey — Informal, mostly childhood; also stands alone as a given name in its own right.
- Jonesy — Teammate and schoolyard style, formed the way surnames are; rarely used by adults about themselves.
Who has carried each name
Jasper
Jasper Johns (b. 1930) — Painted the American flag into art history
Jonah
Jonah Hill (b. 1983) — Superbad comic turned two-time Oscar nominee
Jonah Lomu (b. 1975) — Rugby's first global superstar
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Jasper if you want…
- a name that charts abroad tooJasper is on the national lists of England & Wales and Canada
Choose Jonah if you want…
On the measures here, the records do not separate Jonah from Jasper.
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Jasper
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds and known to nearly every English speaker, so it survives phone calls and roll call without correction.
- Has a documented line back to medieval England and, through Caspar, to early church tradition — an unbroken record rather than a recent coinage.
- Exists in six or more European languages as Gaspar, Gaspard, Kaspar, Kacper, so relatives abroad have a native form to use.
To consider
- Its wave is very recent, so most people carrying the name right now are children. Anyone expecting Jasper to read as an established grown-up name may need to wait for this generation to grow into it.
- It doubles as a stone, a mountain park and a handful of American towns. That is charming to some ears and slightly place-name-ish to others.
- Casper — the continental spelling, and the cartoon ghost — is close enough that some people will hear or write it that way.
Jonah
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds, and already familiar to anyone who has met the biblical story — very little correcting to do.
- Recognizable across languages: Jonas in German and French, Jonás in Spanish, Yunus in Arabic, Yonah in Hebrew.
- An unbroken written record going back to the Hebrew Bible, and continuous English use since the Reformation.
To consider
- Sailors have used "a Jonah" for centuries to mean someone who brings bad luck aboard, straight from the storm in the story. It surfaces rarely in ordinary life, but it is out there, and worth knowing before someone else mentions it.
- Jonas is the standard form in much of Europe and in plenty of American families, so expect a certain number of forms and emails to come back with an s on the end.
- The fish gets brought up. Most children hear the story at some point, and jokes about being swallowed are the predictable ones — usually short-lived, and easier if the child already knows the tale.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Jasper and Jonah in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Jasper and Jonah — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Jasper or Jonah — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Jasper or Jonah?
- Jonah, in 2025: Jonah ranked #128 with 2,828 babies; Jasper ranked #129 with 2,804 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Jasper or Jonah?
- Jasper. Over the last five years Jasper moved up 9 places; Jonah is holding its place on the charts.
- Which is the older name, Jasper or Jonah?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Jasper and Jonah?
- About 49,000 people named Jasper are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 83,000 people named Jonah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Jaspers or Jonahs in the classroom?
- Jasper will almost certainly be the only one in school. Jonah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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