Jill
Masculine · “a short form of Gillian”
Jill is given to girls far more often — 208,071 girls against 501 boys since 1880. See Jill as a girl 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 1943 — 82 years ago. The typical Jill alive today was born around 1969, making them about 56 years old. About 400 people named Jill are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jill most popular?
Jill peaked in 1965, reaching #1513 nationally. See the whole 1965 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
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
- 1943
- Most boys named
- 196526 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1513reached in 1965
- Change vs 1986
- −28.6%5 in 1987, from 7
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
Jills among us
people named Jill 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
Jill 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
- 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
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Jill
Masculine
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 400 people named Jill are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jill in 2025?
- Jill is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Jill with classmates?
- Jill will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More J names
The most-given names starting with J, all years combined.
James#6 · John#23 · Joseph#29 · Joshua#66 · Jason#165 · Jacob#43 · Jeffrey#552 · Jonathan#89
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jill? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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