Jabin
Masculine · “he understands”
Jabin is a Bible name that most Bible readers have never noticed, and there is a reason. The man who carries it in the text is on the losing side of the story — a king whose city is taken and whose general is killed — and names from the wrong side of a narrative tend to be passed over. That leaves a short, clean, entirely legitimate name almost unused.
How old is the name Jabin?
Jabin first appears in US birth records in 1966 — 59 years ago. The typical Jabin alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 600 people named Jabin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jabin most popular?
Jabin peaked in 2001, reaching #2386 nationally. Today it ranks #12008, 9,622 places below that high. See the whole 2001 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yavin to Jabin
The story of Jabin
Jabin appears twice in the Hebrew Bible as a king of Hazor, first in the book of Joshua and then in the account of Deborah and Barak in Judges. Hazor was not a literary invention: it is one of the largest excavated sites in northern Israel, a genuine Canaanite city with a destruction layer, and the name belongs to its rulers rather than to any one man. English use of it is thin and recent, which is why it has arrived in American records looking newly minted despite being nearly three thousand years old.
Meaning
he understands
From the Hebrew root bin, to discern, to perceive, to understand. The same root gives binah, the word for understanding itself, which is one of the qualities the wisdom literature returns to constantly.
How the name formed
- Yavin
- Iabin
- Jabin
Related forms: Yavin · Jabín · Iabin
Pronouncing Jabin
JAY-bin
Two syllables, stress on the first, in ordinary American English. Hebrew puts it the other way around — yah-VEEN, with a y at the front — and readers who know the text may reach for that instead.
Nicknames for Jabin
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1966
- Most boys named
- 200141 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2386reached in 2001
- Change vs 2024
- −50.0%5 in 2025, from 10
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Jabin in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Yavin in Hebrew — transliteration
- Jabín in Spanish — spelling variant
- Iabin in Greek — transliteration
Jabins among us
people named Jabin are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 341,615 born in 2025 was named Jabin
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Staley test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jabin's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Staley climbed just as high around 1942, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Staley's path sketches the road Jabin is walking now.
Jabin 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.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Jabin beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jabin in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Five letters, two syllables, and no spelling anyone has to be told twice.
- It fits the sound families American parents already use — Jay, Gavin, Jaden — without repeating any of them.
- It is a documented scriptural name, so it has a source, which sets it apart from the coinages it rhymes with.
- Anyone who knows the passage knows the man was an enemy king, and that association will occasionally come up.
- It sits very close to Gavin and Javin in speech, and will be misheard as both.
- There are two defensible pronunciations, an English one and a Hebrew one, and the family has to choose.
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What they receive
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Jabin
Masculine · #12008 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jabins are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Jabin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jabin in 2025?
- Jabin ranks #12008 among US boy names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jabin?
- About 1 in every 341,615 US boys born in 2025 was named Jabin — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jabin with classmates?
- Jabin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jabin
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Garfield#12008 · Chas#12008 · Lew#12008 · Barney#12008 · Dewitt#12008 · Granville#12008 · Cicero#12008 · Willam#12008
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jabin? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jabin and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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