Jacqueline
Feminine · “supplanter”
Jacqueline is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 426,088 girls against 1,391 boys since 1880. See Jacqueline as a boy name
Jacqueline was almost unknown in English before the twentieth century. It is a French name, built with a French feminine ending on a French form of Jacob, and English-speaking countries had no use for it until the nineteen twenties; its enormous American peak came four decades later and can be dated to a single inauguration.
How old is the name Jacqueline?
Jacqueline first appears in US birth records in 1891 — 134 years ago. The typical Jacqueline alive today was born around 1966, making them about 59 years old. About 344,000 people named Jacqueline are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jacqueline most popular?
Jacqueline peaked in 1961, reaching #37 nationally. Today it ranks #558, 521 places below that high. See the whole 1961 chart.
Where it comes from
From A Hebrew name behind both Jacob and James to Jacqueline
The story of Jacqueline
A young woman married a senator in nineteen fifty-three, and by the start of nineteen sixty-one she was the most photographed person in the world. The name climbed through the fifties on general fashion and then jumped sharply at the beginning of the sixties, peaking within a year of the inauguration and holding for most of the decade. What is unusual is how completely the association attached: the short form of the name became, for a generation, a specific reference rather than a general one, and the full name went from a French import to an ordinary American name in about three years. Very few names move that far that fast, and almost none of them do it on the strength of one person's visibility alone.
Meaningscholars disagree
supplanter
The name descends through Latin and Greek from the Hebrew name behind Jacob and James, and the traditional reading about supplanting is a pun made inside the biblical text rather than an etymology. Modern scholarship treats it as such. The French feminine ending contributes affection rather than sense.
How the name formed
- A Hebrew name behind both Jacob and James
- Jacques in French, with a French feminine built on it
- Almost unknown in English before the twentieth century
- A sharp American peak at the start of the nineteen sixties
Related forms: Jacqueline · Giacomina · Jacoba
Pronouncing Jacqueline
JAK-uh-lin
Three syllables in American English with the stress on the first. French says it with the stress at the back and a nasal final vowel, giving something closer to zhak-LEEN, which is a noticeably different name written with identical letters.
Nicknames for Jacqueline
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
- 1961 — Jackie Kennedy becomes First Lady
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1891
- Most girls named
- 19638,562 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #37reached in 1961
- Change vs 2022
- −14.0%541 in 2025, from 629
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.
Jacqueline in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Jacqueline in French — same name
- Giacomina in Italian — related form
- Jacoba in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Jacquelines among us
people named Jacqueline are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 2,971 born in 2025 was named Jacqueline
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Jacqueline
- #558
- Jacqueline on the 2025 chart
- #451
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Jacqueline went to 541 girls in 2025, but Jaqueline is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 607, which makes it the 451st most-given girls’ name of the year — 107 places above the chart.
- Jacqueline541
- Jaqueline66
About 1 girl in 2,648 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 2,971 for Jacqueline itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Geraldine test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jacqueline's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Geraldine climbed just as high around 1931, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Geraldine's path sketches the road Jacqueline is walking now.
Jacqueline has held the top-100 across 7 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Jacqueline is headed
Jacqueline is easing off slowly — about 16% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Jacqueline beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jacqueline in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is completely familiar, universally spellable and needs no explaining.
- Jackie and Jacqui are two very different registers from one certificate.
- It carries a genuine French history and a very well-documented American one.
- The association with one particular woman is total for anybody over about sixty.
- The English and French pronunciations differ considerably.
- The spelling is on the register for boys as well, in very small numbers.
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What they receive
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Jacqueline
Feminine · #558 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jacquelines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 344,000 people named Jacqueline are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Jacqueline?
- Jacqueline is the most-used spelling in US records — 541 of the 607 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Jaqueline.
- How popular is the name Jacqueline in 2025?
- Jacqueline ranks #558 among US girl names in 2025, with 541 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jacqueline?
- About 1 in every 2,971 US girls born in 2025 was named Jacqueline — 541 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jacqueline with classmates?
- Jacqueline will almost certainly be the only one in school.
- What explains the spikes and dips on Jacqueline's chart?
- Jacqueline climbed after 1961 — Jackie Kennedy becomes First Lady.
Ranked beside Jacqueline
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Stephanie#557 · Margo#559 · Lilian#560 · Mavis#560 · Kamryn#556 · Amaia#554 · Alexis#554 · Armani#562
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jacqueline? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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