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jada was named for the song Jada written in 1911 by Bob Carleton (although possibly it was written/created by an Afro-Carribean American musician who wasn’t given credit) and which was a hit during WWI and WWII as well as a ChaCha in the 1950’s. The song continues to be played (although seldom sung now) by jazz bands. Some version of it was included on the music tape which went on the first Moon landing flight.

jada’s father heard it being played in a music shop  back in the 1940’s and thought it would make a good name for his soon-to-be-born little girl.

Due to jada’s many years on the stage and TV, a large number of children were named after her (they were sometimes also named after her longest-played TV character, Amy ). As they had usually never heard jada’s name spoken and had only seen it written in articles or the credits, they pronounced it differently.  ‘Jah-dah’ is the song’s pronounciation (which sounds like the word ‘java’)  as opposed to ‘jay-dah’ (which sounds like the word ‘jade’).

Jada Pinkett was apparently among the very many children who were given the name because their mothers or fathers watched the shows jada was on. Now, there are probably as many children named after Ms. Pinkett as there are for jada.

Apparently, there is also a wooden 52 foot schooner in San Diego called Jada (possibly once owned by John Wayne) but it was named, like jada, after the jazz song so it is pronounced the same way.

jada always appreciates any information on how people (or even boats) have been given the name .