Jericho
Masculine · Hebrew roots · “either "moon" or "fragrant place”
Jericho is given to both — 5,978 boys and 379 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Jericho is a city before it is a name — a green break in the Jordan Valley, and one of the oldest walled settlements archaeologists have found anywhere. English got the spelling from Greek and Latin Bibles, kept the soft opening J and the long ringing O, and eventually American parents lifted it off the map and put it on a birth certificate. Three syllables that anyone can read at first sight.
How old is the name Jericho?
Jericho first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Jericho is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 5,900 people named Jericho are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jericho most popular?
Jericho peaked in 2025, reaching #883 nationally. Today it ranks #883, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Jericho appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Yeriḥo (Hebrew) to Jericho
The story of Jericho
The name belongs first to a place: an oasis city north of the Dead Sea, occupied in some form for thousands of years, and known in Hebrew as Yeriḥo. It reached English through the Greek of the Septuagint and the Latin of the Vulgate, which is why the spelling looks Latin rather than Hebrew. The city's siege in the book of Joshua — the circling army, the horns, the falling walls — carried the name into sermons, hymns and spirituals, so it was familiar in English long before anyone used it for a child. Its life as a given name is an American story and a recent one, part of a wider habit of turning biblical place names into first names.
Meaningscholars disagree
either "moon" or "fragrant place" — the Hebrew is read both ways
Hebrew Yeriḥo has been connected to yareaḥ, "moon," which would point to an ancient lunar cult at the site; and to reaḥ, "scent," for the balsam and palm groves the oasis was famous for in antiquity. Both readings are seriously held, and neither has won.
How the name formed
- YeriḥoHebrew
- IerichōGreek
- IerichoLatin
- JerichoEnglish
Related forms: Yeriḥo · Ariha · Jericó · Gerico · Ierichó · Iericho
Pronouncing Jericho
JERR-ih-koh
Stress on the first syllable, with a soft English J. Spanish and Italian speakers will say it their own way — heh-ree-KOH, jeh-REE-koh — but the English reading is stable and almost never mistaken.
Nicknames for Jericho
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
- 1970
- Most boys named
- 2025269 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #883reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +3.9%269 in 2025, from 259
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.
Jericho in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Yeriḥo in Hebrew — transliteration
- Ariha in Arabic — related form
- Jericó in Spanish — same name
- Gerico in Italian — same name
- Ierichó in Greek — transliteration
- Iericho in Latin — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Jerichos among us
people named Jericho are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 6,350 born in 2025 was named Jericho
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 Landin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jericho's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Landin climbed just as high around 2007, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Landin's path sketches the road Jericho is walking now.
Jericho 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 Jericho is headed
Jericho should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Jericho beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jericho in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A spelling almost everyone has seen before, on maps and in scripture, so it is read correctly on the first try.
- Several ready-made short forms — Jerry, Rico, Jer — two of which are full names elsewhere.
- Written the same way across English, and close enough in Spanish and Italian that it travels without translation.
- Documented in one form or another for millennia as a place name, which is a long record to stand on.
- Rare enough in classrooms that it usually needs no last initial.
- The falling-walls story is the first thing many people think of, and some will say so out loud. If you would rather the name not come with a sermon attached, this is worth sitting with.
- It reads unmistakably as a place name to many ears, closer to Zion or Denver than to Joshua. That is a real category, but not everyone hears a first name straight away.
- Its use for children is recent, so nearly everyone carrying it is young. There is no adult generation of Jerichos yet to make it feel ordinary — which cuts both ways.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Jericho
Masculine · Hebrew roots · #883 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jerichos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,900 people named Jericho are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jericho in 2025?
- Jericho ranks #883 among US boy names in 2025, with 269 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jericho?
- About 1 in every 6,350 US boys born in 2025 was named Jericho — 269 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jericho with classmates?
- Jericho will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jericho
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Reuben#883 · Jagger#883 · Leroy#883 · Trey#883 · Emory#883 · Izan#883 · Kolson#883 · Eren#882
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jericho? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jericho and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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