Giovanna
A feminine name of Italian origin meaning "God's gift".
Name Census estimates that about 12,888 living Americans carry the first name Giovanna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Giovanna today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Giovanna births was 2005 (408 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Giovanna. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Giovanna with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
13K
~ 1 in 26,595 Americans
Peak year
2005
408 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#929
Tracked since 1904
Census
Giovanna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 15,379 people with the first name Giovanna, which placed it at #1,869 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,869
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
15,379 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Giovanna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Giovanna is White at 50.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (40.7%) and Black (4.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Giovanna described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Giovanna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.9% · 7,827
- Hispanic or Latino40.7% · 6,262
- Black or African American4.4% · 673
- Two or more races2.8% · 434
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 148
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 35
Popularity
Giovanna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Giovanna from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 3,719 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Giovanna remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Giovanna by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Giovanna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Giovannas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Giovanna, while New Mexico, Kansas, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 377 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Giovanna
The name Giovanna has its origins in the Italian language and culture. It is a feminine form of the name Giovanni, which is derived from the Hebrew name Yochanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious." The name Giovanna has been in use since the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Giovanna can be found in the 12th century Italian text "Vita Nuova" by Dante Alighieri, where he mentions a woman named Giovanna. This name was particularly popular in Italy during the Renaissance period.
In the 14th century, Giovanna I, Queen of Naples and Countess of Provence, was a prominent figure who bore this name. She ruled from 1343 to 1382 and was known for her tumultuous reign and involvement in the Avignon Papacy.
Another notable Giovanna was Giovanna Battista Cenci, an Italian noblewoman from the 16th century who was executed in 1599 for plotting the murder of her abusive father. Her tragic story has been the subject of various literary and artistic works.
In the 17th century, Giovanna d'Arco, better known as Joan of Arc (1412-1431), was a French heroine who led the French army during the Hundred Years' War against the English. Her bravery and devotion to her cause made her a legendary figure.
In the 19th century, Giovanna Gemma Galgani (1878-1903) was an Italian mystic and nun who was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church in 1940 for her profound spiritual devotion and mystical experiences.
Throughout history, the name Giovanna has been a popular choice in various parts of Italy, as well as in other regions with Italian cultural influence. It has also been used in other languages, such as the Spanish Juana and the Portuguese Joana.
People
Giovanna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Giovanna as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Giovanna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Giovanna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,888 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Giovanna going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 26,595 US residents.
Is Giovanna a common name?
We classify Giovanna as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,826 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Giovanna most popular?
The single biggest year for Giovanna was 2005, when 408 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Giovanna is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Giovanna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 15,379 people with the name Giovanna, or 5.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,869 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Giovanna in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Giovanna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Giovanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 15,383 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Giovanna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Giovanna is White at 50.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (40.7%) and Black (4.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Giovanna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Giovanna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.9% (7,827 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Giovanna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Giovanna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Giovanna in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Giovanna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Giovanna in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Giovanna can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Giovanna?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Giovanna on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.