Joella
Feminine variant of the name Joel, derived from Hebrew meaning "Yahweh is God".
Name Census estimates that about 2,890 living Americans carry the first name Joella. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Joella today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joella births was 2016 (78 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joella. 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 Joella with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.9K
~ 1 in 118,600 Americans
Peak year
2016
78 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,295
Tracked since 1880
Census
Joella in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,101 people with the first name Joella, which placed it at #5,508 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
#5,508
National first-name rank
People counted
3.1K
3,101 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joella
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joella is White at 67.0%. The next largest groups are Black (16.5%) and Hispanic (8.2%). 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 Joella 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 Joella at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.0% · 2,079
- Black or African American16.5% · 513
- Hispanic or Latino8.2% · 254
- Two or more races4.3% · 134
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 65
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 56
Popularity
Joella: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joella from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 617 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Joella remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joella 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 Joella during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Joellas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Joella, while Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 34 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Joella
The name Joella is a feminine given name with roots in both Latin and French origins. It emerged as a variant of the name Joelle, which has its origins in the Latin name Iola.
Iola, derived from the Greek word 'ion' meaning 'violet,' was a name used in ancient Greece. It was later adopted by the Romans, who adapted it to the Latin form 'Iola.' Over time, the name evolved into various forms, including the French Joelle and the English Joella.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Joella can be traced back to the 13th century. It appeared in medieval French records, though it was not a commonly used name during that time period. The name gained more popularity in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Joella. One of the earliest was Joella de Munchunsy, a 13th-century English noblewoman known for her philanthropic work and patronage of the arts.
In the realm of literature, Joella Zellers (1889-1970) was an American author and poet, best known for her collection of short stories titled "The Peddler's Pack."
In the field of sports, Joella Levitsky (1925-2006) was a Canadian figure skater who competed in the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Joella Foulds (1926-2015) was a British actress and singer who appeared in several West End productions and television shows in the 1950s and 1960s.
More recently, Joella Bates (born 1988) is an American reality television personality who stars in the TLC series "Bringing Up Bates," which chronicles the lives of her large family.
While the name Joella has roots in ancient civilizations and has been used throughout history, it remains a relatively uncommon name in modern times. Its unique blend of Latin and French influences has given it a distinctive and enduring quality, ensuring its place in the pantheon of given names.
People
Joella + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joella 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
Joella: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joella?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,890 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joella 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 118,600 US residents.
Is Joella a common name?
We classify Joella as "Rare". It ranks above 95.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,161 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joella most popular?
The single biggest year for Joella was 2016, when 78 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joella is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joella in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,101 people with the name Joella, or 1.03 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,508 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 Joella 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 Joella?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joella appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,103 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Joella?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joella is White at 67.0%. The next largest groups are Black (16.5%) and Hispanic (8.2%). 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 Joella most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Joella in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.0% (2,079 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 Joella in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joella a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joella 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 Joella still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joella 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 Joella 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 Joella?
See how many people share the name Joella on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.