UK girl's name
Judith
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "woman from Judea".
For 2026, the newest official UK baby-name figures on this page are from 2024. That release is the current official benchmark rather than a forecast.
Judith is a girl's name in the UK records. People looking for Judith popularity in 2026 should use the latest official release, which is 2024 in this profile. In that release it ranked #2115, with 13 babies registered with the name. Its strongest year in the published records was 1996, with 32 births.
This profile covers 456 England and Wales registrations across 29 recorded years from 1996 to 2024. The figures come from ONS England and Wales, NRS Scotland and NISRA Northern Ireland, so the page is a view of published baby-name registrations rather than a forecast or a live count of people using the name today.
The latest count is about 41% of the recorded peak, which gives a quick read on how the name has moved since its high point.
We estimate that about 1,294 living people in the UK are called Judith. This uses published birth registrations from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, then applies ONS national life tables to estimate how many are likely still alive. It does not forecast extra births for 2025 or 2026.
Key insights
- • Judith ranked #2115 for girls in England and Wales in 2024, with 13 registrations.
- • The name peaked in 1996, when 32 girls were registered as Judith.
- • Judith ranks best in Northern Ireland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #294 in 2006.
- • About 1,294 living people in the UK are estimated to have Judith as a first name, after adjusting past birth registrations with ONS life tables.
Latest rank (E&W)
#2115
2024
Births in 2024
13
Latest year
Peak year
1996
32 births
Estimated living
1,294
2026
Meaning
What does Judith mean?
The name Judith is a feminine given name derived from the Hebrew name יְהוּדִית (Yehudit), which means "Jewish woman" or "woman from Judea". It is derived from the Hebrew word Yehudah, meaning "Judah" or "Jew".
The name Judith has its origins in the Old Testament of the Bible. It is the name of the heroine of the Book of Judith, an apocryphal book that tells the story of a beautiful widow who saves her city of Bethulia from the Assyrian army by beheading the enemy general Holofernes.
The earliest recorded use of the name Judith dates back to the 5th century BC, when it appears in the Book of Judith. It was a popular name among Jewish communities in ancient times and later spread to other cultures through the influence of Christianity.
One of the earliest and most famous bearers of the name Judith was Judith of Bavaria (805-843 AD), a Carolingian noblewoman and the wife of Louis the Pious, King of the Franks. Another notable historical figure named Judith was Judith of Flanders (c. 1032-1094), a Countess of Flanders and mother of Matilda of Scotland.
In the 12th century, Judith of Thuringia (c. 1103-1168) was a Duchess of Bavaria and a prominent figure in the Crusades. During the Renaissance, Judith Arundell (1614-1654) was an English Catholic martyr who was executed for her faith.
Another famous bearer of the name was Judith Leyster (1609-1660), a Dutch Golden Age painter who achieved considerable success as an artist, a rarity for women at that time.
Sourced from namecensus.com.
Popularity
Judith over time
The chart below shows babies named Judith registered in England and Wales in the years where the name appears in the published records, from 1996 to 2024. Empty years are left out so rare names are not stretched across long periods where the published files do not show any registrations.
For Judith, the clearest high point is 1996. The latest England and Wales figure is 13 births in 2024, compared with 32 at the peak.
Babies born per year
Decades
Judith by decade
Decade totals smooth out the yearly jumps and make it easier to see whether Judith was a short-lived spike or a name that stayed in regular use. Average rank is calculated only from years where a published rank exists.
| Decade | Average rank | Total births | Years covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | #1948 | 72 | 5 |
| 2010s | #2098 | 138 | 10 |
| 2000s | #1512 | 152 | 10 |
| 1990s | #944 | 94 | 4 |
Geography
Where Judith is most common
The bars show the latest published local birth counts for Judith. They are useful for spotting where the name is showing up in real numbers, while the rank beside each bar shows how strongly it performs inside that region.
Judith ranks best in Northern Ireland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #294 in 2006.
Across the UK
Judith in Scotland and Northern Ireland
Scotland (NRS)
#749 in 2023
28 years of NRS records, 809 total registered
Northern Ireland (NISRA)
#294 in 2006
9 years of NISRA records, 49 total registered
Notable bearers
Famous people named Judith
-
Judith Ralston
weather presenter
weather presenter
1968-
-
Judith Ann Tucker
painter; researcher
researcher
1960-2023
-
Judith Scott
actor; television actor; stage actor; film actor
British actress
1957-2018
-
Judith Weir
composer; librettist; oboist; musicologist; music educator
British composer
1954-
-
Judith Sirs
swimmer
British swimmer
1954-
-
Judith Turnbull
swimmer
1947-
-
Judith Rees
geographer
British academic, educator, and geographer (born 1944)
1944-
-
Judith V. Field
mathematician; art historian; translator; historian of science; historian of mathematics
British historian of science (1943-) with interests in mathematics and the impact of science in art
1943-
Related
Names similar to Judith
- Jessica 105,041
- Jasmine 35,227
- Jade 19,646
- Julia 11,780
- Jennifer 11,529
- Jodie 9,357
- Jemima 6,454
- Josephine 5,889
- Jessie 5,418
- Josie 5,284
- Jasmin 4,706
- Jenna 4,646
FAQ
Judith: questions and answers
How popular is the name Judith in the UK right now?
In 2024, Judith was ranked #2115 for girls in England and Wales, with 13 births registered.
When was Judith most popular?
The peak year on record was 1996, with 32 babies registered as Judith in England and Wales.
What is the meaning and origin of Judith?
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "woman from Judea".
How many people are called Judith in the UK?
A total of 456 babies have been registered as Judith across the 29 years of ONS England & Wales records shown here, plus 809 more in Scotland and 49 in Northern Ireland.
Where is Judith most common?
In the latest published local rankings, Judith ranks best in Northern Ireland, where it placed #294 in 2006. The regional bars on this page use birth counts, so they also reflect the size of each region.
Which records is this page based on?
The England and Wales timeline uses ONS baby-name records. Scotland figures come from NRS and Northern Ireland figures come from NISRA. Counts are registrations in published baby-name files. The living estimate uses those birth registrations with ONS national life tables.