Jill
Feminine · “a short form of Gillian”
Jill is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 208,071 girls against 501 boys since 1880. See Jill as a boy name
Jill is one syllable with a long English past: it began as the everyday short form of Gillian, the medieval English form of the Roman Juliana. The J is doing real work, since English says gill two different ways.
How old is the name Jill?
Jill first appears in US birth records in 1906 — 119 years ago. The typical Jill alive today was born around 1967, making them about 58 years old. About 186,000 people named Jill are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jill most popular?
Jill peaked in 1977, reaching #41 nationally. Today it ranks #5722, 5,681 places below that high. See the whole 1977 chart.
Jill appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Julius (Roman family name) to Jill
The story of Jill
Gillian came into medieval English as the everyday form of Juliana, and Jill, written with either a G or a J for centuries, was its short form. Spelled with a G the name could be misread, because gill is two unrelated English words: the gill of a fish has a hard g, and the gill that measures a quarter of a pint has a soft one. The J settled the sound. One notable bearer, Jill Ker Conway, grew up on a sheep station in the Australian outback, told that story in The Road from Coorain, and in 1975 became the first woman president of Smith College in Massachusetts.
Meaning
a short form of Gillian, from the Roman Juliana
Juliana is the feminine of the Roman family name Julius. What Julius itself meant was argued over even in antiquity; Jill's own descent, through Gillian, is clear.
How the name formed
- JuliusRoman family name
- JulianaLatin
- Gillianmedieval English
- Jill
Related forms: Gillian · Julienne · Giuliana · Juliana
Pronouncing Jill
JIL
One syllable, rhyming with hill.
Nicknames for Jill
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
- 1906
- Most girls named
- 19657,820 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #41reached in 1977
- Change vs 2023
- +40.0%21 in 2025, from 15
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.
Jill in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gillian in English — related form
- Julienne in French — related form
- Giuliana in Italian — related form
- Juliana in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Jills among us
people named Jill are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 76,537 born in 2025 was named Jill
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 Diana test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jill's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Diana climbed just as high around 1946, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Diana's path sketches the road Jill is walking now.
Jill 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
Jill beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jill in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable that almost nobody misspells or mispronounces.
- A traceable line through Gillian back to the Roman Juliana.
- Known to every generation now living, yet rarely given to children now, so it seldom repeats in a classroom.
- The nursery rhyme is unavoidable, and a child named Jill will hear about Jack and the hill from classmates and adults alike.
- It is best known among women born a generation or two ago, so it can read as a name of that era.
- A very few boys are recorded with it; for them it will be read as a girl's name almost everywhere.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Jill
Feminine · #5722 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jills are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 186,000 people named Jill are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jill in 2025?
- Jill ranks #5722 among US girl names in 2025, with 21 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jill?
- About 1 in every 76,537 US girls born in 2025 was named Jill — 21 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jill with classmates?
- Jill will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jill
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rosina#5722 · Delores#5722 · Vaughn#5722 · Roseline#5722 · Loyal#5722 · Missy#5722 · Danitza#5722 · Margret#5722
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jill? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jill and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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