Jair
Masculine · “He shines”
Jair is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 7,258 boys against 11 girls since 1880.
Jair is one of the short Hebrew names that made it into the Bible and then kept walking — through Greek and Latin scripture into Spanish and Portuguese, where it has been at home for generations. Four letters, a vowel run down the middle, and a meaning tied to light. Say it the Spanish way and it lifts on the second syllable; say it the English way and it lands in one beat.
How old is the name Jair?
Jair first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Jair alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 7,200 people named Jair are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jair most popular?
Jair peaked in 2003, reaching #506 nationally. Today it ranks #1193, 687 places below that high. See the whole 2003 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Ya'ir to Jair
The story of Jair
Jair belongs to the Hebrew Bible: Jair son of Manasseh, who took a cluster of villages in Gilead, and Jair the Gileadite, listed among the judges of Israel. Greek translators rendered the name Iair, and the same root surfaces again in the Gospels as Jairus. From the Latin Bible the spelling Jair passed into Spanish and Portuguese, where it settled as an ordinary given name rather than a scriptural quotation — Brazil in particular has carried it for the better part of a century, along with its affectionate form Jairzinho. Modern Hebrew keeps the older spelling Yair, common in Israel. In the United States the name arrived comparatively recently and travels most in families with Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking roots.
Meaning
He shines, he gives light
From Hebrew Ya'ir, built on the root 'or', light. The related New Testament name Jairus comes from the same source.
How the name formed
- Ya'ir
- Iair
- Jairus
- Jair
- Jairo
Related forms: Yair · Jairo · Jair · Iairos · Jairus · Iair
Pronouncing Jair
hah-EER (Spanish) / JAIR (English)
Spanish and Portuguese speakers give it two syllables with the stress at the end; English speakers usually say it in one, rhyming with 'hair'. The Hebrew form is yah-EER. All three are in real use, so it is worth deciding early which one your family will answer to.
Nicknames for Jair
High
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
- 1971
- Most boys named
- 2003480 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #506reached in 2003
- Change vs 2024
- −4.0%170 in 2025, from 177
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.
Jair in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Yair in Hebrew — transliteration
- Jairo in Spanish — related form
- Jair in Portuguese — same name
- Iairos in Greek (New Testament) — related form
- Jairus in English (biblical) — related form
- Iair in Latin (Vulgate) — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Jairs among us
people named Jair are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 10,048 born in 2025 was named Jair
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 Claudie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jair's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Claudie climbed just as high around 1901, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Claudie's path sketches the road Jair is walking now.
Jair 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 Jair is headed
Jair 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.
Jair beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jair in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short, four letters, and already spelled the way most people would guess once they have heard it said.
- Works in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Hebrew without changing its written form — useful in a bilingual family.
- A documented record going back to the Hebrew Bible, with the related name Jairus in the Gospels.
- Has ready-made short forms — Jai, Jay — that need no explaining.
- Familiar in sound without being repeated across a classroom.
- The pronunciation genuinely splits: hah-EER in Spanish, JAIR in English. Most Jairs end up correcting people, or quietly accepting both. Choosing your preferred version now saves a lifetime of small negotiations.
- It gets mixed up with Jairo, Jaire and Jayr in writing, and the initial J invites the wrong sound from anyone reading it cold.
- Internationally, the best-known living bearer is a former Brazilian president, a strongly polarising figure. That association is much stronger outside the US than inside it, but it exists.
- The name is stepping back from its high point, so it is likelier to read as a considered choice than a common one — good if that is what you want, worth knowing if you had hoped for something more familiar to teachers.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Jair to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Jair
Masculine · #1193 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jairs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,200 people named Jair are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jair in 2025?
- Jair ranks #1193 among US boy names in 2025, with 170 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jair?
- About 1 in every 10,048 US boys born in 2025 was named Jair — 170 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jair with classmates?
- Jair will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jair
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Syncere#1193 · Will#1193 · Cove#1191 · Amirion#1191 · Zavian#1196 · Javon#1196 · Khaza#1196 · Ever#1196
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jair? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jair 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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