Jovante
A masculine name of Scandinavian origin potentially meaning "loved warrior" or "warrior of love".
Name Census estimates that about 421 living Americans carry the first name Jovante. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jovante today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jovante births was 1992 (54 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jovante. 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
421
~ 1 in 814,143 Americans
Peak year
1992
54 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2022 SSA rank
#13,242
Tracked since 1981
Census
Jovante in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 331 people with the first name Jovante, which placed it at #27,567 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
#27,567
National first-name rank
People counted
331
331 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
83.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jovante
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jovante is Black at 83.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.9%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Jovante 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 Jovante at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American83.4% · 276
- Hispanic or Latino7.9% · 26
- Two or more races6.9% · 23
- White1.2% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2
Popularity
Jovante: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jovante from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 249 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jovante 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 Jovante during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jovantes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Florida, Illinois recorded the most babies named Jovante, while Georgia, Louisiana, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jovante
The given name Jovante is a relatively modern invention, likely originating in the late 20th century. It does not appear to have any direct etymological roots in ancient languages or historical records. The name seems to be a creative combination of the Latin prefix "jov-" meaning "youth" or "young", and the French suffix "-ante" meaning "before" or "preceding".
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the first name Jovante is Jovante Cunningham, an American former professional basketball player born in 1976. He played in the NBA for the Dallas Mavericks and the Golden State Warriors in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Another notable bearer of the name is Jovante Curry, an American former football player who was born in 1983. He played as a defensive back in the NFL for the Oakland Raiders and the Seattle Seahawks in the late 2000s.
Jovante Moffitt is an American singer and songwriter born in 1991. He is known for his work in the R&B and pop genres, having released several albums and singles since the early 2010s.
Jovante Williams is an American actor and musician born in 1987. He is best known for his roles in various television shows and films, such as "The Wire" and "Creed".
Jovante Woodard is an American professional basketball player born in 1995. He currently plays in the NBA G League, which is the developmental league for the NBA.
While the name Jovante is relatively uncommon, it has gained some popularity in recent decades, particularly in the United States. However, due to its modern origin, there is limited historical information or records about the name prior to the late 20th century.
People
Jovante + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jovante 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
Jovante: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jovante?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 421 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jovante 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 814,143 US residents.
Is Jovante a common name?
We classify Jovante as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 430 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jovante most popular?
The single biggest year for Jovante was 1992, when 54 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jovante is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jovante in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 331 people with the name Jovante, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,567 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 Jovante 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 Jovante?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jovante leans strongly male. 321 people counted with this name were male (95.5%), compared with 15 female bearers (4.5%). 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 Jovante?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jovante is Black at 83.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.9%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Jovante most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jovante in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.4% (276 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 Jovante in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jovante a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jovante 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 Jovante still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jovante 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 Jovante 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 Jovante as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Jovante, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.