Jordan
Masculine · “descending”
Jordan is given to both — 401,196 boys and 135,599 girls since 1880. See Jordan as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Jordan is a river before it is a person: the Hebrew Yarden, the water that runs down the length of the Holy Land. Medieval pilgrims and crusaders carried flasks of that water home to baptize their children, and the children were named for it — which is how a Middle Eastern river became an ordinary English given name and, soon after, an English surname. Two crisp syllables, one obvious spelling, and nearly a thousand years of continuous use behind it.
How old is the name Jordan?
Jordan was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Jordan alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 388,000 people named Jordan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jordan most popular?
Jordan peaked in 1997, reaching #26 nationally. Today it ranks #131, 105 places below that high. See the whole 1997 chart.
Where it comes from
From Yarden to Jordan
The story of Jordan
The name begins as a place: the Jordan, the river of the Hebrew Bible, whose name the Greek translators wrote as Iordanes and Latin writers as Iordanis. From the eleventh and twelfth centuries onward, Europeans returning from the Holy Land brought Jordan water back for baptisms, and children baptized with it were given the river's name — Jordanus in Latin records, Jourdain in Old French, where it also became the hero's name in a medieval French verse epic. From those baptismal Jordans came the family names Jordan, Jourdain and the Italian Giordano. In English it has been in steady use for boys since the Middle Ages, and in American records it has been given to girls as well as boys for a long stretch now.
Meaning
descending, flowing down — from the river Jordan
The Hebrew name Yarden comes from the root yarad, 'to go down' or 'descend', describing the river's fall from the northern highlands to the Dead Sea.
Cultural footprint
Jordan Peele (b. 1979) — Get Out's Oscar-winning horror auteur
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Yarden
- Iordanes
- Jordanus
- Jourdain
- Jordan
Related forms: Yarden · Giordano · Jourdain · Jordán · Jordão · Jordan
Pronouncing Jordan
JOR-dan
Stress on the first syllable. The second syllable is unstressed and often reduced to 'dn' in fast American speech. It reads correctly on sight for almost any English speaker.
Nicknames for Jordan
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
- 1991 — Michael Jordan's first NBA title
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 199016,137 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #26reached in 1997
- Change vs 2022
- −30.3%2,732 in 2025, from 3,919
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.
Jordan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Yarden in Hebrew — same name
- Giordano in Italian — same name
- Jourdain in French — same name
- Jordán in Spanish — same name
- Jordão in Portuguese — same name
- Jordan in German — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Jordans among us
people named Jordan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 625 born in 2025 was named Jordan
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 Terry test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jordan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Terry climbed just as high around 1946, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Terry's path sketches the road Jordan is walking now.
Jordan is coming down from a big peak (#26 in 1997). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Jordan is headed
Jordan 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.
Jordan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jordan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One spelling that English speakers read and write correctly on first sight, with no pronunciation coaching required.
- Works in French, Italian, Spanish, German and Hebrew with only small adjustments — a rare thing in a name this short.
- Documented in European records since the era of the crusades, so it has outlasted many complete turns of fashion.
- Established short forms already exist — Jordy, Jord — rather than needing to be invented.
- Common enough to be instantly familiar, but a child is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
- It reads as unisex in the United States, with most Jordans being boys and a real minority girls. On paper — a class list, an application — the name alone will not tell anyone which, which some families like and others do not.
- Jordan is also a very common surname and a country, so pairing it with another surname-style last name can produce a full name that sounds like two last names.
- Variant spellings such as Jordyn and Jordon are in circulation, so expect occasional 'how do you spell it' even though your spelling is the standard one.
- The name carries strong associations with sports and with a sneaker brand — familiar rather than embarrassing, but it will be the first thing some people mention.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Jordan to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Jordan
Masculine · #131 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jordans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 388,000 people named Jordan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jordan in 2025?
- Jordan ranks #131 among US boy names in 2025, with 2,732 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jordan?
- About 1 in every 625 US boys born in 2025 was named Jordan — 2,732 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jordan with classmates?
- Jordan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
- What explains the spikes and dips on Jordan's chart?
- Jordan climbed after 1991 — Michael Jordan's first NBA title.
Ranked beside Jordan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hunter#130 · Calvin#132 · Ryder#132 · Jasper#129 · Jonah#128 · Malachi#134 · Landon#127 · Kayden#135
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jordan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jordan and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Or jump into a head-to-head
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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