Johannah
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "God's gift" or "favored by God".
Name Census estimates that about 2,617 living Americans carry the first name Johannah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Johannah today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Johannah births was 2010 (110 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Johannah. 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 Johannah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.6K
~ 1 in 130,972 Americans
Peak year
2010
110 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,049
Tracked since 1880
Census
Johannah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,484 people with the first name Johannah, which placed it at #6,456 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
#6,456
National first-name rank
People counted
2.5K
2,484 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Johannah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Johannah is White at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.3%) and Black (7.1%). 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 Johannah 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 Johannah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.1% · 1,816
- Hispanic or Latino9.3% · 230
- Black or African American7.1% · 176
- Two or more races4.8% · 119
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.6% · 114
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 29
Popularity
Johannah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Johannah 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 633 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Johannah 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 Johannah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Johannahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Johannah, while Missouri, Pennsylvania, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Johannah
The name Johannah has its origins in the Hebrew language, derived from the name Yohanan, which means "Yahweh is gracious" or "God is merciful." This name was prevalent in ancient Israel and is closely associated with the biblical figure John the Baptist, whose Hebrew name was Yohanan.
Johannah is a feminine variation of the name John, which itself has a rich history dating back to ancient times. The name was popularized in the New Testament, where John the Baptist and John the Apostle were prominent figures. It later became widespread throughout the Christian world, with numerous saints and religious figures bearing the name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Johannah can be found in the Book of Chronicles, where it is mentioned as the name of a Levite woman who lived during the reign of King David in the 10th century BCE. This biblical reference suggests that the name has been in use for over three millennia.
In the Middle Ages, the name Johannah was relatively uncommon, but it gained popularity during the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. One notable figure from this period was Johannah von Schönau, a German Benedictine nun and mystic who lived from around 1138 to 1185. She was known for her visions and prophetic writings, which influenced religious thought at the time.
During the Renaissance, the name Johannah was used by several notable women, including Johannah Cartwright (1600-1672), an English Quaker minister and author who wrote extensively on religious topics. Another prominent figure was Johannah Müller (1673-1723), a German painter and engraver who was celebrated for her intricate still-life works.
In the 18th century, Johannah Kinsbury (1708-1778) was a noted English philanthropist and social reformer who dedicated her life to improving the lives of the poor and establishing charitable institutions. Another notable individual was Johannah Reichard (1779-1853), a German writer and translator who played a significant role in introducing English literature to German audiences.
Moving into the 19th century, Johannah Stegen (1819-1898) was a German-American woman who founded the Gemeinschaft Mettingen, a religious community in Illinois that practiced communal living and emphasized self-sufficiency.
Throughout its history, the name Johannah has been borne by numerous individuals from various cultural and religious backgrounds, reflecting its enduring popularity and significant religious connotations.
People
Johannah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Johannah 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
Johannah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Johannah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,617 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Johannah 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 130,972 US residents.
Is Johannah a common name?
We classify Johannah as "Rare". It ranks above 94.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,088 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Johannah most popular?
The single biggest year for Johannah was 2010, when 110 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Johannah is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Johannah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,484 people with the name Johannah, or 0.82 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,456 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 Johannah 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 Johannah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Johannah appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,487 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Johannah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Johannah is White at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.3%) and Black (7.1%). 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 Johannah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Johannah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.1% (1,816 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 Johannah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Johannah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Johannah 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 Johannah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Johannah 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 Johannah 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 people have Johannah as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Johannah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.