Jae
Masculine
Jae is given to both — 1,700 boys and 1,280 girls since 1880. See Jae as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Jae is a Korean syllable, and Korean names are built from syllables the way Chinese ones are — each with a written character behind it that decides what it means. The same sound can be several different names on paper.
How old is the name Jae?
Jae first appears in US birth records in 1918 — 107 years ago. The typical Jae alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 1,500 people named Jae are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jae most popular?
Jae peaked in 1957, reaching #1791 nationally. Today it ranks #2941, 1,150 places below that high. See the whole 1957 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Jae
Korean names traditionally consist of a family name and a two-syllable given name, with one syllable often shared among siblings or across a whole generation of cousins — a generational marker fixed in advance by the clan. Jae is one of the most common syllables in that system, appearing in Jae-ho, Jae-min, Jae-won and hundreds more. Standing alone it is a shortening, and it reaches United States records both from Korean families using it that way and from English-speaking parents respelling Jay.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Korean given names are usually written in hanja, characters borrowed from Chinese, and the syllable jae carries several: one meaning talent or ability, one meaning to exist, one meaning wealth, one meaning again. Which applies depends entirely on the characters a family chose. Separately, Jae serves in American use as a respelling of Jay. No single reading covers the spelling.
Pronouncing Jae
JAY
One syllable in American use, said exactly as Jay. Korean is closer to a shorter, flatter vowel — the romanisation ae represents a sound English does not quite have — and the difference is audible to Korean speakers.
Nicknames for Jae
Limited
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
- 1918
- Most boys named
- 202343 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1791reached in 1957
- Change vs 2023
- −2.3%42 in 2025, from 43
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.
Jae in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- 재 in Korean — transliteration
- Jay in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Jaes among us
people named Jae are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 40,668 born in 2025 was named Jae
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 Levert test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jae's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Levert climbed just as high around 1939, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Levert's path sketches the road Jae is walking now.
Jae 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
Where Jae is headed
Jae should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Jae beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jae in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three letters, one syllable, and easy for a small child to write.
- At home in Korean and English naming alike, which very few spellings are.
- Pairs cleanly with a long surname, as short first names generally do.
- Its meaning depends on hanja that a Roman spelling cannot record.
- In Korean it is normally half of a two-syllable name, so standing alone it reads as incomplete.
- Jae and Jay are said the same way in English and look unrelated on paper.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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Jae
Masculine · #2941 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jaes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Jae are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jae in 2025?
- Jae ranks #2941 among US boy names in 2025, with 42 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jae?
- About 1 in every 40,668 US boys born in 2025 was named Jae — 42 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jae with classmates?
- Jae will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jae
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Prescott#2941 · Kwame#2941 · Michelangelo#2941 · Jahan#2941 · Kairi#2941 · Yonah#2941 · Nihal#2941 · Reyes#2941
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jae? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jae and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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