Johnna
A feminine form of the name John, derived from Hebrew meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 8,764 living Americans carry the first name Johnna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Johnna today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Johnna births was 1963 (617 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Johnna. 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
8.8K
~ 1 in 39,109 Americans
Peak year
1963
617 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,372
Tracked since 1919
Census
Johnna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,558 people with the first name Johnna, which placed it at #2,738 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
#2,738
National first-name rank
People counted
8.6K
8,558 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Johnna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Johnna is White at 81.3%. The next largest groups are Black (7.8%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Johnna 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 Johnna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.3% · 6,960
- Black or African American7.8% · 664
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 357
- Two or more races4.0% · 342
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 138
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 97
Popularity
Johnna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Johnna from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 2,907 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Johnna 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 Johnna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Johnnas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 39 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Johnna, while Montana, Maine, Wisconsin recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 158 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Johnna
The name Johnna is a feminine variant of the name John, which has its roots in the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious." The name was popularized by the biblical figure John the Baptist and later by the apostle John. The name has been in use since ancient times, with various spellings and forms across different cultures and languages.
In the early Christian era, the name John gained widespread popularity and was commonly used among the faithful. It was particularly popular in regions where Christianity flourished, such as Europe and the Middle East. The name Johnna emerged as a feminine form of John in several European languages, including English, German, and Scandinavian languages.
The earliest recorded use of the name Johnna dates back to the 12th century in England, where it was spelled as "Johanna." This spelling was influenced by the Latin and Greek forms of the name, "Iohannes" and "Ioannes," respectively. Over time, the name evolved into various spellings, including Johanna, Joanna, and eventually Johnna.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Johnna. One of the earliest recorded figures was Johnna of Constantinople (c. 460-527), a Byzantine empress and the wife of Emperor Anastasius I. Another notable figure was Johnna of Montfort (c. 1292-1349), a French noblewoman who played a significant role in the Hundred Years' War.
In the 16th century, Johnna of Castile (1479-1555), also known as Juana la Loca, was the Queen of Castile and Aragon. She is renowned for her turbulent reign and alleged mental instability. Another famous Johnna was the Swedish playwright and novelist Johnna Spyri (1827-1901), best known for her children's book "Heidi."
During the 20th century, Johnna Woodruff (1923-2019) was an American tennis player and one of the leading African American athletes of her time. She won multiple Grand Slam titles and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985.
While the name Johnna has maintained a presence throughout history, its popularity has ebbed and flowed over time. It remains a poetic and elegant option for parents seeking a feminine name with deep historical roots and a connection to the biblical figure John.
People
Johnna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Johnna 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
Johnna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Johnna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,764 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Johnna 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 39,109 US residents.
Is Johnna a common name?
We classify Johnna as "Rare". It ranks above 97.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,014 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Johnna most popular?
The single biggest year for Johnna was 1963, when 617 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Johnna is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Johnna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,558 people with the name Johnna, or 2.83 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,738 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 Johnna 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 Johnna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Johnna appears almost entirely female. Of the 8,555 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Johnna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Johnna is White at 81.3%. The next largest groups are Black (7.8%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Johnna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Johnna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.3% (6,960 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 Johnna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Johnna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Johnna 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 Johnna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Johnna 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 Johnna 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 Johnna?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.