Justin
Feminine · “just”
Justin is given to boys far more often — 790,469 boys against 3,804 girls since 1880. See Justin as a boy name
Justin is a Roman name that means what it looks like it means. It is the small form of Justus, the just man, and it has been carried by emperors, a philosopher and a great many ordinary people since the second century, which is unusually straightforward for a name this common.
How old is the name Justin?
Justin first appears in US birth records in 1923 — 102 years ago. The typical Justin alive today was born around 1986, making them about 39 years old. About 3,700 people named Justin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Justin most popular?
Justin peaked in 1987, reaching #716 nationally. See the whole 1987 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From justus to Justin
The story of Justin
The name's first famous holder is Justin Martyr, a philosopher from Samaria who read his way through the Stoics and the Platonists, converted, and then went on wearing the philosopher's cloak for the rest of his life, on the grounds that he had not stopped being one. He argued for Christianity in the language of Greek philosophy rather than against it, and was executed in Rome for refusing to sacrifice. Two Byzantine emperors carried the name after him, and it spread across Europe as a saint's name. The curious thing is that the parent name it was built from, Justus, faded almost completely, while the diminutive it produced is still one of the most given names in the English-speaking world.
Meaning
just, fair, upright
From the Latin justus, with the ending that Latin used to make an affectionate or smaller form. The meaning has never been in doubt and has never drifted.
How the name formed
- justus
- Justinus
- Justin
Related forms: Justin · Justino · Giustino · Ustin · Justyn
Pronouncing Justin
JUS-tin
Two syllables with the weight at the front. French says zhoos-TAN, back-weighted and nasal, and Spanish hoos-TEEN.
Nicknames for Justin
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
- 1923
- Most girls named
- 1987253 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #716reached in 1987
- Change vs 2019
- −14.3%6 in 2024, 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.
Justin in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Justin in French — same name
- Justino in Spanish — same name
- Giustino in Italian — same name
- Ustin in Russian — transliteration
- Justyn in Polish — spelling variant
Justins among us
people named Justin 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
Justin 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
- Everyone can spell it and say it on first hearing, in almost any European language.
- The meaning is plain, positive and needs no explaining.
- It has forms in French, Spanish, Italian, Polish and Russian, so it travels without becoming strange.
- It has an unbroken written history from the second century to the present.
- It is one of the defining names of its generation and will place a person in time for anyone who hears it.
- Several very famous men share it, and the associations arrive whether or not they are wanted.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of girls, though it reads overwhelmingly as a boy's name.
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What they receive
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Justin
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Justins are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,700 people named Justin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Justin in 2025?
- Justin is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Justin with classmates?
- Justin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More J names
The most-given names starting with J, all years combined.
Jennifer#586 · Jessica#665 · Janet#2778 · Julie#872 · Joyce#1071 · Joan#1085 · Julia#131 · Jean#2117
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Justin? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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