Judy is the pet form of Judith, the Hebrew name of the biblical heroine who saved her city by slaying Holofernes; it means "woman from Judea" or, by extension, "praised". Judy Garland made the nickname a star name in the 1940s, and it was a top 20 name through the 1950s. Judy ranked number 1089 in 2000, its best year in this century, and has settled around 1450 to 1750 since 2015, standing at number 1874 in 2025.