Jack is a Hebrew and widely used first name meaning ‘Yahweh is gracious’. It can be the English version of John or it is a short form of Jacob and John.
Jack is a first name typically given to boys, but in rare cases also used as a girls name.
The first name Jack is one of the top 100 most popular boys names in the US – currently at #31 in our SmartGenius ranking. Over 1,000 babies each year are named Jack, accounting for approximately 0.50 % of all newborn boys. In total, there are currently 711,708 people – children, adults and seniors – named Jack living in the United States, which is approximately 0.21 % of the entire population.
Jack Black (*1969)
Black is an American actor, comedian and musician. He began his career as an actor in plays and television shows. He first gained notoriety as a member of the comedy rock band 'Tenacious D', which he co-founded with Kyle Gass and which successfully produced several albums and a television series. He received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in 'School of Rock' (2003). Black is also an experienced voice actor and has lent his voice to characters in a variety of animated films, series and video games.
Jack Nicholson (*1937)
One of the greatest and most influential actors in film history had his breakthrough in 1969 with the film 'Easy Rider': Jack Nicholson. Nicholson is a very versatile actor who has appeared in over 60 films during his career and has won three Oscars (two for Best Actor in a Leading Role for 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (1976) and for 'As Good as It Gets' (1997) - and one for Best Supporting Actor for 'Terms of Endearment' (1983)) and accumulated a total of twelve Oscar nominations. One of his best-known films is 'The Shining' from 1980.
Jack Nicklaus (*1940)
Jack Nicklaus started playing golf at the age of 10. He ended his career as an amateur golfer in 1967 by becoming a professional golfer. He is considered the best golfer of all time, having won 117 professional tournaments and a record-breaking 18 major tournaments - a full three more than second-placed Tiger Woods. These wins earned him the nickname 'The Golden Bear'. Nicklaus has also worked successfully as a golf course architect, designing more than 300 golf courses in 30 countries. Likewise, he has also founded several companies, including Golden Bear Inc. and Nicklaus Design.
Jack Ma (*1967)
Jack Ma, born Ma Yun, is considered one of China's most successful entrepreneurs who has strengthened and strongly influenced the Chinese economy. He is the founder and former Executive Chairman of the Chinese online retailer Alibaba Group. Alibaba has quickly become one of China's largest online trading companies and has also expanded successfully in other countries. Besides being an entrepreneur and investor, he also enjoys giving speeches and mentoring young entrepreneurs.
Jack Ryan
Jack Ryan is a fictional character invented by author Tom Clancy. He is a former naval officer and CIA analyst who appears in many novels and films. The most famous works in which Jack Ryan appears are 'The Hunt for Red October' (1984), 'Patriot Games' (1987) and 'Clear and Present Danger' (1989). There is also a television series called 'Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan' (since 2018) starring John Krasinsky as the title character.
Jack Sparrow
Jack Sparrow is a fictional character from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. The character was portrayed by actor Johnny Depp and made his first appearance in 2003. Sparrow is a pirate and captain of the ship 'The Black Pearl'. Sparrow is known for his unconventional and chaotic nature, his unorthodox methods and his unwavering self-respect. Depp's charismatic portrayal of Sparrow has contributed to the films' strong popularity.
When you hear the name Jack, you might first think of people. But did you know that there are also places with the name Jack? Are you also called Jack? Maybe one day you will visit the places that are named just like you...
of Jacksboro (Texas), you will find Jack County. It is named after Patrick Churchill Jack and his brother William Houston Jack, both soldiers of the Texas Revolution.
Only a little over 1000 people live in the unincorporated community Jack, Alabama. There is another community with this name in Missouri.
If we dig really deep into our statistics, we find that there are very few boys' names that have been consistently popular for so long that they have been given to newborns in every single year since the beginning of our records in 1880. In fact, there are only 442 boys' names that appear in our statistics in every single year, and Jack is one of those very special classics. At the same time, Jack has never been more popular than it is in this century - in 2021 the name even made it to rank #13 of the most popular boys' names, easily landing in the top 100 of our SmartGenius first name statistics.
In years where the graph has no value, the name Jack was given less than five times or even none at all in the entire USA.
...because: In 2022, 8,897 boys were born and given the name Jack by their parents. That puts Jack at #15 on our list of most popular boys' names. It was much less popular in 1989 - only 1,724 parents chose this name for their newborn son and it ranked 174 on the popularity scale of all boys' names.
Wherever you go, wherever you live – there’s a good chance to meet Jack. Because: There are men and boys named Jack in every state in the USA. This may sound quite unspectacular at first, but in fact, of the nearly 50,000 different male first names that occur in the USA, just 386 are recorded in each individual state, so the name Jack is definitely something very special. In some regions it even makes it into the top 100 of the most popular male first names, for example in Oklahoma, where Jack ranks on position 17. The greatest chance of meeting Jack, however, is in Wyoming, where one in 121 boys and men bears this beautiful name – that is far above average – in the entire USA it is only one in 235 men and boys and in Hawaii, where the name is least represented in relation to the population, you even have to ask an average of 413 men and boys for their name before you once get Jack as an answer.
Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: The letter J is the most popular first letter for boys’ names. 10.1% of all common boys’ names in the US start with this letter. The second most common first letter in boys’ names is A.
With four letters, the name Jack is shorter than most other given names. In fact, only 5.5% of all common first names in the US consist of exactly four letters. Just 1.2% of all first names are even shorter, while 93% consist of more than four letters. On average, first names in the US (not counting hyphenated names) are 6.5 letters long. There are no significant differences between boys' and girls' names.
That means that if 10.1% of all boys’ names start with a J, this initial letter occurs nearly three times as often as all other letters on average. And, by the way, of all the boys’ names that begin with the letter J, the name James is the most common.
If your name is Jack and someone asks after your name, you can of course just tell them what it is. But sometimes that isn't so easy - what if it's too loud, and you don't understand them well? Or what if the other person is so far away that you can see them but not hear them? In these situations, you can communicate your name in so many other ways: you call spell it, sign it, or even use a flag to wave it...
So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Jack, you can simply say:
Joker
Apple
Cat
Koala
Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.
Jack
Jack
Just use American Sign Language!
These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.
J
A
C
K
In the navy, sailors of two ships might wave flags to each other to send messages. A sailor holds two flags in specific positions to represent different letters.
J
A
C
K
In Morse code, letters and other characters are represented only by a series of short and long tones. For example, a short tone followed by a long tone stands for the letter A. Jack sounds like this:
