Joanthan
A masculine name of French origin combining the names John and Nathan, meaning "God's gift".
Name Census estimates that about 447 living Americans carry the first name Joanthan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Joanthan today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joanthan births was 1986 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joanthan. 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.
People living today
447
~ 1 in 766,788 Americans
Peak year
1986
39 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
1995 SSA rank
#7,355
Tracked since 1964
Census
Joanthan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 352 people with the first name Joanthan, which placed it at #26,438 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
#26,438
National first-name rank
People counted
352
352 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joanthan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joanthan is White at 50.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.8%) and Black (13.9%). 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 Joanthan 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 Joanthan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.0% · 176
- Hispanic or Latino27.8% · 98
- Black or African American13.9% · 49
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.0% · 21
- Two or more races2.3% · 8
Popularity
Joanthan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joanthan from the 1960s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 279 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Joanthan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joanthan 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 Joanthan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Joanthans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, New York, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Joanthan, while Texas, New Jersey, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 28 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Joanthan
The name Joanthan is of Hebrew origin, derived from the combination of two words: "Johanan" and "Nathan." The name Johanan means "Yahweh is gracious," while Nathan means "gift of God." Joanthan, therefore, can be interpreted as "God's gracious gift."
This name has its roots in ancient Hebrew culture and can be traced back to biblical times. In the Old Testament, there are several mentions of individuals bearing the name Johanan, which is the Hebrew variant of Joanthan. One of the most notable references is in the Book of Jeremiah, where Johanan is mentioned as a military leader during the Babylonian captivity.
The earliest recorded use of the name Joanthan itself dates back to the Middle Ages. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Joanthan the Scribe, a 12th-century Jewish scholar and calligrapher from England. He is credited with producing some of the most beautiful Hebrew manuscripts of his time.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Joanthan. One of the most famous is Joanthan Swift (1667-1745), the renowned Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, and poet, best known for his work "Gulliver's Travels." Another prominent Joanthan is Joanthan Edwards (1703-1758), a prominent American theologian and philosopher who played a significant role in the Great Awakening religious revival.
In the realm of science, Joanthan Ive (born 1967) is a notable figure. He is a British industrial designer who served as the Chief Design Officer at Apple Inc. and is credited with designing many of the company's iconic products, including the iMac, iPhone, and iPad.
Joanthan Franzen (born 1959) is a celebrated American novelist and essayist, best known for his critically acclaimed works, such as "The Corrections" and "Freedom." His novels often explore themes of family dynamics, social class, and the complexities of modern life.
Joanthan Larson (1960-1996) was an American composer and playwright who revolutionized the world of musical theater with his groundbreaking rock musical "Rent." His untimely death at the age of 35 cut short a promising career, but his legacy lives on through his influential works.
People
Joanthan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joanthan 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
Joanthan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joanthan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 447 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joanthan 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 766,788 US residents.
Is Joanthan a common name?
We classify Joanthan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 470 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joanthan most popular?
The single biggest year for Joanthan was 1986, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joanthan is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joanthan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 352 people with the name Joanthan, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,438 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 Joanthan 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 Joanthan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joanthan appears almost entirely male. Of the 353 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Joanthan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joanthan is White at 50.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.8%) and Black (13.9%). 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 Joanthan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Joanthan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.0% (176 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 Joanthan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joanthan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joanthan in the SSA data are male. 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 Joanthan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joanthan 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 Joanthan 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 Joanthan?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Joanthan, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.