Joie
French feminine name referring to joy or gladness.
Name Census estimates that about 2,766 living Americans carry the first name Joie. It is a predominantly female name (92.3% of registrations). The average person named Joie today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joie births was 2019 (85 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joie. 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 Joie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.8K
~ 1 in 123,917 Americans
Peak year
2019
85 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2005 SSA rank
#2,898
Tracked since 1915
Census
Joie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,665 people with the first name Joie, which placed it at #6,114 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
#6,114
National first-name rank
People counted
2.7K
2,665 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joie is White at 61.7%. The next largest groups are Black (11.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.5%). 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 Joie 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 Joie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.7% · 1,645
- Black or African American11.8% · 315
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.5% · 280
- Hispanic or Latino9.8% · 261
- Two or more races5.6% · 149
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 15
Gender
Gender distribution for Joie
Joie leans heavily female at 92.3% of total registrations, but 242 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Joie as a male name
- Ranked #10,728 in 2005
- 6 male births in 2005
- Peak: 1961 (17 births)
Joie as a female name
- Ranked #2,898 in 2024
- 57 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (85 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joie leans strongly female. 2,414 people counted with this name were female (90.6%), compared with 249 male bearers (9.4%).
Popularity
Joie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joie from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 598 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Joie remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joie 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 Joie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Joies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Joie, while Virginia, Oklahoma, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 54 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Joie
The name Joie has its origins in the French language, derived from the Old French word "joie", meaning "joy" or "delight". This name has been in use since the Middle Ages, gaining popularity as a female given name during the Renaissance period.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Joie can be traced back to the 13th century, appearing in medieval French literature and poetry. It was often used as a symbolic name, representing the concepts of happiness, contentment, and celebration. The name's association with joy and positivity made it a popular choice among the French nobility and upper classes.
One of the earliest notable individuals bearing the name Joie was Joie de Vianden, a 13th-century noblewoman from Luxembourg. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her influence in the court of Duke Henry V of Luxembourg.
In the 15th century, Joie de Chabannes, a French noblewoman, was celebrated for her beauty and grace. She served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne of Brittany and was renowned for her elegant poetry and writings.
During the Renaissance, the name Joie gained further prominence with Joie de Chaulieu, a French poet and member of the French Academy. Born in 1641, she was recognized for her lyrical works and her contributions to the literary salons of the time.
In the 18th century, Joie de Merveilleux, a French artist and engraver, made her mark with her intricate and detailed etchings, capturing the grandeur of the Baroque era.
Another notable bearer of the name was Joie de Lauzun, a 19th-century French aristocrat and socialite. She was known for her philanthropy and her active role in supporting various charitable causes during her lifetime (1820-1892).
While the name Joie has its roots in French culture, it has since been embraced and adapted by various other cultures and languages. Its timeless association with joy and happiness has contributed to its enduring popularity as a given name across different regions and periods in history.
People
Joie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joie 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
Joie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,766 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joie 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 123,917 US residents.
Is Joie a common name?
We classify Joie as "Rare". It ranks above 94.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,149 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joie most popular?
The single biggest year for Joie was 2019, when 85 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joie is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,665 people with the name Joie, or 0.88 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,114 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 Joie 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 Joie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joie leans strongly female. 2,414 people counted with this name were female (90.6%), compared with 249 male bearers (9.4%). 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 Joie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joie is White at 61.7%. The next largest groups are Black (11.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.5%). 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 Joie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Joie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.7% (1,645 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 Joie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joie a female name?
Yes, 92.3% of people registered as Joie 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 Joie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joie 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 Joie 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 share the name Joie?
Want to know how many people have the name Joie? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.