Meaning and history
Jody is a diminutive of names beginning with Jo, including Josephine, Joseph, and Joanna. It was popularized by the boy hero in Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ novel The Yearling (1938) and its 1946 film adaptation. As a feminine name, it likely benefited from the popularity of the similar-sounding Judy, which was then at its peak in the United States.
20062006: 87 births, rank #1,638
2007: 102 births, rank #1,539
2008: 84 births, rank #1,775
2009: 74 births, rank #1,925
2010: 75 births, rank #1,898
20112011: 74 births, rank #1,886
2012: 61 births, rank #2,172
2013: 59 births, rank #2,205
2014: 68 births, rank #2,063
2015: 57 births, rank #2,300
20162016: 48 births, rank #2,587
2017: 48 births, rank #2,597
2018: 52 births, rank #2,472
2019: 34 births, rank #3,347
2020: 40 births, rank #2,925
20212021: 47 births, rank #2,695
2022: 37 births, rank #3,216
2023: 50 births, rank #2,614
2024: 49 births, rank #2,674
20252025: 40 births, rank #3,036
Jody rose from #991 to #982 for boys between 1995 and 1996. Its highest annual birth count came in 1971, with 1,704 births.