Jamaica
Feminine
Jamaica is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 1,532 girls against 37 boys since 1880.
Jamaica is one of the few places in the Americas that kept its indigenous name. Columbus named it after a saint and the Spanish administration used that name officially for over a century, and it did not take: the Taino word won, and the Spanish one is now a footnote. Very few Caribbean islands managed that, which makes the name unusual before you get to anything else about it.
How old is the name Jamaica?
Jamaica first appears in US birth records in 1972 — 53 years ago. The typical Jamaica alive today was born around 1992, making them about 33 years old. About 1,500 people named Jamaica are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jamaica most popular?
Jamaica peaked in 1977, reaching #1701 nationally. See the whole 1977 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From A Taino name recorded by the Spanish to Jamaica
The story of Jamaica
Columbus named the island for Saint James, and the Spanish crown used that name in official documents for a century and a half. Nobody else did. The indigenous name stayed in use among the population, was picked up by the English when they took the island in the sixteen fifties, and is what the country is called today; the Spanish name survives only in the name of one town. That is a rare outcome. Across the Caribbean and most of the Americas the imposed names stuck, and the indigenous ones survive mainly in rivers and mountains where nobody official needed to write them down. There is also a Jamaica in New York, and it has nothing to do with the island: the name there comes from a Lenape word for beaver, reshaped by English speakers into something familiar.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The Taino word recorded by the Spanish has no settled meaning. The reading preferred by people who work on the language is something about springs or water; the version that circulates everywhere else is land of wood and water, which is a national motto rather than an etymology. Taino is reconstructed from wordlists compiled by people who did not speak it, so the question may not be answerable at all.
How the name formed
- A Taino name recorded by the Spanish
- An official Spanish name that nobody adopted
- The indigenous name surviving the change of empire
- Used as an American first name in the nineteen seventies
Pronouncing Jamaica
juh-MAY-kuh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The Spanish and English pronunciations are close, which is unusual for a name that has passed through both, and neither is likely to be what the Taino original sounded like.
Nicknames for Jamaica
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
- 1972
- Most girls named
- 197761 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1701reached in 1977
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%5 in 2024, from 5
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.
Jamaica in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: South Carolina.
Jamaicas among us
people named Jamaica are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Jamaica sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The sound is universally known and never needs explaining.
- It works on the register for either child, which the record confirms.
- It carries a genuinely unusual piece of colonial history that can be told quickly.
- It names a country, and your child will be asked about a connection whether or not there is one.
- There is no settled meaning, and the popular one is a motto rather than an etymology.
- It is closely tied to one decade of American naming.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Jamaica to the vote.
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What they receive
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Jamaica
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Jamaicas 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 Jamaica are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jamaica in 2025?
- Jamaica is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Jamaica with classmates?
- Jamaica will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More J names
The most-given names starting with J, all years combined.
Jennifer#586 · Jessica#665 · Janet#2778 · Julie#872 · Joyce#1071 · Joan#1085 · Julia#131 · Jean#2117
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jamaica? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jamaica and another name?
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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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