Jon
Masculine · “God is gracious”
Jon is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 168,142 boys against 1,249 girls since 1880. See Jon as a girl name
Jon is not an abbreviation. In Iceland, Norway and Denmark it is simply how the name is spelled, and has been for centuries; the h that English insists on is a Latin import that the northern languages never took up. An American Jon may be a shortening, and a Scandinavian one is not.
How old is the name Jon?
Jon first appears in US birth records in 1898 — 127 years ago. The typical Jon alive today was born around 1965, making them about 60 years old. About 133,000 people named Jon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jon most popular?
Jon peaked in 1968, reaching #65 nationally. Today it ranks #951, 886 places below that high. See the whole 1968 chart.
Where it comes from
From Yohanan to Jon
The story of Jon
Iceland still does not have surnames in the ordinary sense. A person's second name says whose child they are and changes every generation, so a man called Jon whose father was Einar is Jon Einarsson, and his own son is Something Jonsson and his daughter Something Jonsdottir; a wife does not take her husband's name because it would mean she was his daughter. The consequence that visitors find strangest is that the telephone directory is alphabetised by first name, since the second one is not a family's property. The system was normal across Scandinavia until laws in the early twentieth century froze the patronymics into inherited surnames elsewhere; Iceland declined to do it, and the old arrangement is still running.
Meaning
God is gracious
The Hebrew is a short sentence about God showing favor. It became the most productive name in Europe, producing Jean, Juan, Ivan, Sean, Hans, Giovanni, Janos and several hundred surnames, and the northern languages worked it down to a single syllable early, so this is one of the older shapes rather than one of the newer ones.
How the name formed
- Yohanan
- Johannes
- Jon
Related forms: Jon · Jon · Jon · Janos
Pronouncing Jon
JON
One syllable, said exactly as the h spelling. Icelandic gives the vowel a different quality and marks it with an accent, but the shape of the word is the same, and no language has ever pronounced that h.
Nicknames for Jon
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
- 1898
- Most boys named
- 19634,750 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #65reached in 1968
- Change vs 2023
- −3.1%246 in 2025, from 254
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.
Jon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Jon in Icelandic — same name
- Jon in Norwegian — same name
- Jon in Danish — same name
- Janos in Hungarian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, New York.
Jons among us
people named Jon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 6,943 born in 2025 was named Jon
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 Vernon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jon's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Vernon climbed just as high around 1919, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Vernon's path sketches the road Jon is walking now.
Jon 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 Jon is headed
Jon 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.
Jon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three letters, one syllable, and no possible ambiguity about how to say it.
- It is a full standard name in three northern countries rather than a clipping.
- The name behind it is among the most widely carried in the world.
- In America it reads as a shortening of the h spelling whatever the certificate says.
- The record carries it for girls in small numbers, so it is not quite an absolute signal.
- A three-letter name gives nothing to shorten and no formal version to grow into.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Jon
Masculine · #951 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 133,000 people named Jon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jon in 2025?
- Jon ranks #951 among US boy names in 2025, with 246 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jon?
- About 1 in every 6,943 US boys born in 2025 was named Jon — 246 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jon with classmates?
- Jon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jethro#952 · Mitchell#952 · Agustin#952 · Josias#950 · Ricky#948 · Meir#948 · Felipe#955 · Legacy#955
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jon? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jon and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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