Jude
Top 1000
About Jude
Jude is a modern star, maintaining a steady level of popularity — but not TOO much popularity, in the US at least. Thank Jude Law and the great Lennon-McCartney song "Hey Jude", both responsible for propelling Jude up the charts.
Meaning "praised", the name was borne by the apostle, Saint Jude, who intervened on behalf of those desperate situations and became the patron saint of lost causes and hospitals — and the Chicago Police Department. The more positive Biblical association helps to distance the name for the similar Judas, borne by the traitorous Judas Iscariot.
A literary name, appearing in Thomas Hardy's tragic novel, Jude the Obscure and in the more recent (but equally tragic) A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, Jude is also notably borne by footballer Jude Bellingham. The name is occasionally used for girls (as in Martha Stewart's granddaughter)--but more often as a shortened form of Judith/Judy.
Jude can be considered a multicultural choice too, an alternative form of the Arabic Jud or Joud, both variations of Jawad meaning "to be generous, to be good to others". In this case, it is considered unisex.
Currently a US Top 200 name, in the UK, it recently ranked in the Top 20.
Pronounced JOOD.
As of October 2026, Jude ranked #155 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #151 in 2021, Nameberry popularity #15.
Editor's take: The name Jude is a boy's name of Arabic, Hebrew, Latin origin meaning "praised; to be generous, to be good to others".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #161 | 2,592 | 1,349.4 |
| 2015 | #156 | 2,668 | 1,391.9 |
| 2016 | #160 | 2,524 | 1,330 |
| 2017 | #156 | 2,515 | 1,358.8 |
| 2018 | #156 | 2,497 | 1,374.9 |
| 2019 | #152 | 2,555 | 1,424 |
| 2020 | #154 | 2,439 | 1,413 |
| 2021 | #151 | 2,506 | 1,432.4 |
| 2022 | #160 | 2,305 | 1,320.2 |
| 2023 | #161 | 2,270 | 1,327 |
| 2024 | #156 | 2,284 | 1,325.7 |
| 2025 | #155 | 2,384 | 1,395.7 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Jude.
- Milo
- August
- Elliot
- Finn
- Miles
- Theo
- Rory
- Arlo
- Ezra
- Emmett
- Everett
- Silas
- Archer
- Flynn
- Archie
- Rowan
- Felix
- Erin
- Ellis
- Finley
Jude on lists
Famous Judes
- Jude
Biblical half,brother of Jesus; author of the Epistle of Jude
- (David) Jude Heyworth Law
English actor
- River Jude Phoenix
American actor
- (Michael) Jude Christodal
American singer,songwriter
- Jude Gordon Grammer (b. 2004)
son of actor Kelsey Grammer
- Jude Swanberg
American child actor; son of director Joe Swanberg
- Jude Hull
son of ice hockey player Brett Hull
- Jude Sidney Sampson (b. 2010)
son of TV presenter Kirsty Gallacher and Paul Sampson
- Jude Michael Crook (b. 2003)
son of actor Mackenzie Crook
- Jude Jones (b. 2016)
son of American actress and singer Jayma Mays and English actor Adam Campbell
- Jude Bellingham
English football player
Jude in pop culture
- Jude
epistle in the New Testament
- Jude Fawley
main character in Thomas Hardy's "Jude the Obscure"
- "Hey Jude
" song by the Beatles inspired by John Lennon's son Julian
- Jude
main character in movie "Across the Universe," inspired by "Hey Jude"
- Jude Lizowski
main character on animated series "6Teen"
- Jude Heartfillia
character in anime "Fairy Tail"
- Jude Baker
character on TV's "One Tree Hill"
- Jude Jacobs
later Jude Adams,Foster, character on Freeform's "The Fosters"
- "Jude
" novel by Kate Morgenroth and its main character
- Jude the Entropic Man
character in Marvel Comics
- The Judes
Canadian rock band
- Jude Keffy
Horn, character in the novel 'Ten Thousand Saints' by Eleanor Henderson
- Jude St. Francis
main character in the novel "A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara
- Brigadier Jude Scanlon
character in Melina Marchetta's novel "On the Jellicoe Road"
- Jude Mercer
character in "The Sins That Bind Us" by Geneva Lee
- Jude Harley
character in "Hiveswap"
- Jude Sweetwine
main character in the novel 'I'll Give You the Sun' by Jandy Nelson
- Jude Weatherbourne
main character in the Age of Darkness series by Katy Rose Pool