Joann
A feminine name derived from Latin "Ioanna" meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 84,520 living Americans carry the first name Joann. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Joann today is around 67 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joann births was 1942 (4,518 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joann. 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 Joann with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Joann is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 564 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Joann is about 67 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Joanns were born before 1969.
- • Compared to the 1940s, recent registration numbers for Joann have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
85K
~ 1 in 4,055 Americans
Peak year
1942
4,518 babies that year
Average age
67
years old
2023 SSA rank
#3,090
Tracked since 1891
Census
Joann in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 149,039 people with the first name Joann, which placed it at #372 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
#372
National first-name rank
People counted
149K
149,039 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
49.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joann
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joann is White at 77.9%. The next largest groups are Black (10.4%) and Hispanic (6.7%). 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 Joann 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 Joann at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.9% · 116,062
- Black or African American10.4% · 15,461
- Hispanic or Latino6.7% · 9,981
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 3,955
- Two or more races1.8% · 2,630
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 950
Gender
Gender distribution for Joann
Out of the 157,397 babies given the name Joann since 1880, 99.6% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Joann as a male name
- Ranked #13,102 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1934 (21 births)
Joann as a female name
- Ranked #3,090 in 2024
- 52 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1942 (4,506 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joann appears almost entirely female. Of the 149,035 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Joann: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joann from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 40,143 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joann 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 Joann during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Joanns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Joann, while Nevada, Alaska, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,003 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Joann
The name Joann is an English feminine given name derived from the Hebrew name Johanan, which means "Graced by God" or "God is gracious". It is a combination of the Hebrew elements "Yo" meaning "God" and "hanan" meaning "he was gracious".
The name Joann has its roots in the ancient Hebrew language and can be traced back to the Old Testament. It is a variant of the name Joan, which was originally derived from the Latin name Iohannes, the masculine form of the Hebrew name Johanan.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Joann dates back to the 13th century. Joann of Acre (c. 1210-1285) was a Frankish princess and the daughter of King John of Brienne and Queen Maria of Montferrat. She was a prominent figure during the Crusades and played a significant role in the political and military affairs of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Another notable historical figure with the name Joann was Joann Sfar (1671-1753), an Italian painter and printmaker from Rome. She was known for her intricate engravings and was a member of the prestigious Accademia di San Luca, an academy for artists in Rome.
In the 19th century, Joann Woodcock (1828-1910) was an American businesswoman and philanthropist from New York. She was instrumental in establishing several charitable organizations and was actively involved in various social and educational initiatives.
Joann Mukundan (1873-1944) was an Indian social reformer and activist from Kerala. She played a pivotal role in the movement for women's education and empowerment in the region and was a pioneer in the field of women's rights.
One of the most famous individuals with the name Joann was Joann Rowling (1965-), the British author best known for the Harry Potter book series. Her books have sold over 500 million copies worldwide and have been translated into numerous languages, making her one of the most celebrated and influential authors of our time.
People
Joann + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joann as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Joann: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joann?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 84,520 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joann 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 4,055 US residents.
Is Joann a common name?
We classify Joann as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 157,397 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joann most popular?
The single biggest year for Joann was 1942, when 4,518 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joann is about 67 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joann in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 149,039 people with the name Joann, or 49.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #372 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 Joann 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 Joann?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joann appears almost entirely female. Of the 149,035 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Joann?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joann is White at 77.9%. The next largest groups are Black (10.4%) and Hispanic (6.7%). 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 Joann most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Joann in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.9% (116,062 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 Joann in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joann a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Joann 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 Joann still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joann 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 Joann 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 many Americans are named Joann?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.