Judith
Masculine · “Woman of Judah”
Judith is given to girls far more often — 454,714 girls against 1,241 boys since 1880. See Judith as a girl name
Judith is a name attached to one of the most painted scenes in European art, and the most famous version of it was made by a woman who had been through a rape trial in which she was tortured to test whether she was telling the truth. She painted the subject more than once.
How old is the name Judith?
Judith first appears in US birth records in 1930 — 95 years ago. The typical Judith alive today was born around 1945, making them about 80 years old. About 700 people named Judith are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Judith most popular?
Judith peaked in 1941, reaching #640 nationally. See the whole 1941 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yehudit to Judith
The story of Judith
The story is short, violent and deliberately shocking: a widow walks into an enemy camp, is admired by the general, waits until he is drunk, and cuts off his head with his own sword while his army sleeps. Renaissance and baroque painters could not leave it alone. Artemisia Gentileschi painted it at least twice, with the two women braced against the bed and the blood arcing, and the pictures are startlingly physical in a way the male versions of the same subject are not. Earlier, Florence had put a bronze of the same scene outside its town hall with an inscription about the destruction of tyrants, moved there after the ruling family was expelled. A biblical widow with a sword became the city's political emblem for a while, which is a career.
Meaning
Woman of Judah
The Hebrew is the feminine of the name of the southern kingdom and its founding tribe, so it means a woman of that people. It is an identity rather than a description, and it belongs to the same family of names as the word for a Jew, which comes from the same place name by way of Greek and Latin.
How the name formed
- Yehudit
- Judith
Related forms: Judith · Judith · Giuditta · Judit · Judit
Pronouncing Judith
JOO-dith
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The th is the unvoiced one, as in thin rather than as in this; the Hebrew original ends in a different consonant altogether and the th is a transliteration convention.
Nicknames for Judith
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
- 1930
- Most boys named
- 194191 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #640reached in 1941
- Change vs 1992
- −16.7%5 in 1993, from 6
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.
Judith in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Judith in French — same name
- Judith in German — same name
- Giuditta in Italian — same name
- Judit in Spanish — same name
- Judit in Hungarian — same name
Judiths among us
people named Judith 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
Judith 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
- Spelled identically in French and German and nearly so in Italian, Spanish and Hungarian.
- Judy and Jude are two established short forms in very different registers.
- The name has been in continuous use in English since the Reformation without a break.
- The record carries it for boys in small numbers, so it is not quite an absolute signal.
- It is strongly dated to the middle of the last century in American ears.
- The story attached to it is violent, and a child who looks it up will find that first.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Judith to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Judith? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Judith
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Judiths are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Judith are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Judith in 2025?
- Judith is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Judith with classmates?
- Judith 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 Judith? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Judith and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle