Head to head · Girls' names
Jordan vs Noemi
#584 vs #583 in 2025
Noemi is a whisker ahead (#583 vs #584 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Noemi is back after a long quiet spell, Jordan is stepping back from its peak.
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, Noemi leads 4 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
- 1910s: Jordan —, Noemi #3812 — Noemi higher
- 1920s: Jordan —, Noemi #3074 — Noemi higher
- 1930s: Jordan —, Noemi #1701 — Noemi higher
- 1940s: Jordan —, Noemi #1498 — Noemi higher
- 1950s: Jordan #5415, Noemi #1024 — Noemi higher
- 1960s: Jordan #5213, Noemi #862 — Noemi higher
- 1970s: Jordan #2847, Noemi #720 — Noemi higher
- 1980s: Jordan #297, Noemi #659 — Jordan higher
- 1990s: Jordan #52, Noemi #575 — Jordan higher
- 2000s: Jordan #82, Noemi #620 — Jordan higher
- 2010s: Jordan #278, Noemi #731 — Jordan higher
- 2020s: Jordan #497, Noemi #647 — Jordan higher
Noemi stood higher in 7 of 12 decades; Jordan has held the lead since the 1980s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Jordan | Noemi |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | — | #3812 |
| 1920s | — | #3074 |
| 1930s | — | #1701 |
| 1940s | — | #1498 |
| 1950s | #5415 | #1024 |
| 1960s | #5213 | #862 |
| 1970s | #2847 | #720 |
| 1980s | #297 | #659 |
| 1990s | #52 | #575 |
| 2000s | #82 | #620 |
| 2010s | #278 | #731 |
| 2020s | #497 | #647 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
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.
Noemi
pleasantness, my delight (Hebrew)
From Hebrew na'omi, built on the root n-'-m, 'pleasant, sweet'. In the Book of Ruth, Naomi returns from Moab widowed and asks to be called Mara, 'bitter', instead — a play on her own name that only works because the meaning was plain to its first hearers.
Na'omi (Hebrew) → Noemin (Greek Septuagint) → Noemi (Latin Vulgate) → Noemí / Noémi → Naomi
How it traveled
The name begins in Hebrew scripture, where Naomi is Ruth's mother-in-law and the two of them walk back to Bethlehem together. When Jewish scholars in Alexandria translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek, the name came through as Noemin; the Latin Vulgate rendered it Noemi, and that is the spelling Catholic Europe inherited.
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
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.
Noemi
noh-EH-mee
Italian and much US English usage puts the stress in the middle: noh-EH-mee. Spanish Noemí stresses the last syllable, noh-eh-MEE, and Hungarian Noémi the first. All three are correct for their language, so it is worth deciding early which one you will answer to.
- Noe — Common informal short form in Spanish-speaking families; also exists separately as the Spanish form of Noah, spelled Noé, for men.
- Nomi — Informal, formed by dropping the middle vowel; occasionally used as a given name in its own right in Hebrew-speaking contexts.
- Mimi — Affectionate, family-level use, drawn from the end of the name rather than the beginning.
- Noni — Informal diminutive heard mainly in Hungarian usage.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
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
Choose Noemi if you want…
- a name on the way upup 186 places on the charts in five years
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 30% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 77% for Jordan
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
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.
Noemi
Strengths
- Recognizable in English through the familiar Naomi, so most people grasp it instantly even when they need the spelling.
- One spelling works unchanged in Italian, Polish, Spanish and Hungarian — useful in a bilingual family or across borders.
- A documented record stretching back to the Book of Ruth, with no gap in the line between then and now.
To consider
- Naomi is the better-known spelling in English, so expect to correct it fairly often — usually a small, quick correction rather than a real obstacle.
- The stress moves between languages: noh-EH-mee, noh-eh-MEE, NOH-eh-mee. Relatives in different countries may each say it their own way.
- The accented forms Noemí and Noémi are standard in Spanish and Hungarian, but US paperwork and databases tend to strip accents, so the plain Noemi is the version that will follow her through life.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Jordan
77%chance Jordan feels dated by 2040
Jordan is coming down from a big peak (#40 in 1997). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Noemi
30%chance Noemi feels dated by 2040
Noemi is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
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 Jordan and Noemi 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
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Jordan and Noemi?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Names of the '80s and '90s, currently resting
- Classics hiding in plain sight
- Names that belong entirely to the 1990s
- Quiet perennials: a century old, never popular
- all guides
Where Jordan and Noemi each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Jordan or Noemi — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Jordan or Noemi?
- Noemi, in 2025: Noemi ranked #583 with 509 babies; Jordan ranked #584 with 503 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Jordan or Noemi?
- Noemi. Over the last five years Jordan moved down 147 places; Noemi moved up 186 places.
- Which is the older name, Jordan or Noemi?
- Jordan entered the US charts in 1950; Noemi entered the US charts in 1915. On the American record, Noemi is the older name.
- How many people are named Jordan and Noemi?
- About 134,000 people named Jordan are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 22,000 people named Noemi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Jordans or Noemis in the classroom?
- Jordan will almost certainly be the only one in school. Noemi will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Jordan, Noemi and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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