Head to head · Boys' names
Jasper vs Jordan
#129 vs #131 in 2025
Jasper is a whisker ahead (#129 vs #131 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Jasper is holding its place on the charts, Jordan is stepping back from its peak.
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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, Jasper leads 3 measures of 6; Jordan 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, Jordan #491 — Jasper higher
- 1890s: Jasper #197, Jordan #618 — Jasper higher
- 1900s: Jasper #233, Jordan #741 — Jasper higher
- 1910s: Jasper #257, Jordan #872 — Jasper higher
- 1920s: Jasper #292, Jordan #707 — Jasper higher
- 1930s: Jasper #360, Jordan #691 — Jasper higher
- 1940s: Jasper #427, Jordan #784 — Jasper higher
- 1950s: Jasper #529, Jordan #699 — Jasper higher
- 1960s: Jasper #669, Jordan #574 — Jordan higher
- 1970s: Jasper #761, Jordan #372 — Jordan higher
- 1980s: Jasper #661, Jordan #75 — Jordan higher
- 1990s: Jasper #656, Jordan #29 — Jordan higher
- 2000s: Jasper #507, Jordan #42 — Jordan higher
- 2010s: Jasper #219, Jordan #61 — Jordan higher
- 2020s: Jasper #130, Jordan #99 — Jordan higher
Jasper stood higher in 8 of 15 decades; Jordan has held the lead since the 1960s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Jasper | Jordan |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #165 | #491 |
| 1890s | #197 | #618 |
| 1900s | #233 | #741 |
| 1910s | #257 | #872 |
| 1920s | #292 | #707 |
| 1930s | #360 | #691 |
| 1940s | #427 | #784 |
| 1950s | #529 | #699 |
| 1960s | #669 | #574 |
| 1970s | #761 | #372 |
| 1980s | #661 | #75 |
| 1990s | #656 | #29 |
| 2000s | #507 | #42 |
| 2010s | #219 | #61 |
| 2020s | #130 | #99 |
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
Jordan
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.
Jordan
descending, flowing down — from the river Jordan
The Hebrew name Yarden comes from the root yarad, 'to go down' or 'descend', describing the river's fall from the northern highlands to the Dead Sea.
Yarden → Iordanes → Jordanus → Jourdain → Jordan
How it traveled
The name begins as a place: the Jordan, the river of the Hebrew Bible, whose name the Greek translators wrote as Iordanes and Latin writers as Iordanis. From the eleventh and twelfth centuries onward, Europeans returning from the Holy Land brought Jordan water back for baptisms, and children baptized with it were given the river's name — Jordanus in Latin records, Jourdain in Old French, where it also became the hero's name in a medieval French verse epic.
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.
Jordan
JOR-dan
Stress on the first syllable. The second syllable is unstressed and often reduced to 'dn' in fast American speech. It reads correctly on sight for almost any English speaker.
- Jordy — The most widespread short form, informal, used for both boys and girls.
- Jord — Clipped and casual, mostly among friends and siblings.
- Jordie — Same sound as Jordy with a softer spelling; used informally.
- J — Single-initial nickname, common in American school and sports settings.
Who has carried each name
Jasper
Jasper Johns (b. 1930) — Painted the American flag into art history
Jordan
Jordan Peele (b. 1979) — Get Out's Oscar-winning horror auteur
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 on the way upup 9 places on the charts in five years
- a name that charts abroad tooJasper is on the national lists of England & Wales and Canada
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 80% for Jordan
Choose Jordan if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsJordan is stepping back from its peak
- a name that feels very nowJordan is stepping back from its peak
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.
Jordan
Strengths
- One spelling that English speakers read and write correctly on first sight, with no pronunciation coaching required.
- Works in French, Italian, Spanish, German and Hebrew with only small adjustments — a rare thing in a name this short.
- Documented in European records since the era of the crusades, so it has outlasted many complete turns of fashion.
To consider
- It reads as unisex in the United States, with most Jordans being boys and a real minority girls. On paper — a class list, an application — the name alone will not tell anyone which, which some families like and others do not.
- Jordan is also a very common surname and a country, so pairing it with another surname-style last name can produce a full name that sounds like two last names.
- Variant spellings such as Jordyn and Jordon are in circulation, so expect occasional 'how do you spell it' even though your spelling is the standard one.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Jasper
40%chance Jasper feels dated by 2040
Jasper sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
Jordan
80%chance Jordan feels dated by 2040
Jordan is coming down from a big peak (#26 in 1997). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Jordan in full.
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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 Jordan — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Jasper or Jordan — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Jasper or Jordan?
- Jasper, in 2025: Jasper ranked #129 with 2,804 babies; Jordan ranked #131 with 2,732 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Jasper or Jordan?
- Jasper. Over the last five years Jasper moved up 9 places; Jordan moved down 49 places.
- Which is the older name, Jasper or Jordan?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Jasper and Jordan?
- About 49,000 people named Jasper are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 388,000 people named Jordan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Jaspers or Jordans in the classroom?
- Jasper will almost certainly be the only one in school. Jordan 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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