Judd began as a medieval English pet form of Jordan, the river name that means "to flow down" in Hebrew, and survived as a surname before returning as a given name. Film director Judd Apatow and actor Judd Hirsch are familiar American bearers. The name is rare but stable in the United States: number 3183 in 2000, a best rank of number 1412 in 2024 and number 1704 in 2025.