Juanita
Feminine diminutive of Juan, the Spanish form of John meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 74,367 living Americans carry the first name Juanita. It is a predominantly female name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Juanita today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Juanita births was 1924 (5,428 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Juanita. 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 Juanita with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Juanita is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 991 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1920s, recent registration numbers for Juanita have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
74K
~ 1 in 4,609 Americans
Peak year
1924
5,428 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
1990 SSA rank
#2,585
Tracked since 1880
Census
Juanita in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 98,829 people with the first name Juanita, which placed it at #555 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
#555
National first-name rank
People counted
99K
98,829 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
32.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
36.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Juanita
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Juanita is White at 36.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (34.7%) and Black (23.1%). 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 Juanita 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 Juanita at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White36.6% · 36,208
- Hispanic or Latino34.7% · 34,253
- Black or African American23.1% · 22,799
- Two or more races2.2% · 2,222
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 2,076
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 1,271
Gender
Gender distribution for Juanita
Out of the 208,612 babies given the name Juanita since 1880, 99.5% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Juanita as a male name
- Ranked #7,614 in 1990
- 6 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1931 (40 births)
Juanita as a female name
- Ranked #2,585 in 2024
- 68 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1924 (5,404 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Juanita appears almost entirely female. Of the 98,833 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Juanita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Juanita from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 48,749 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Juanita 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 Juanita during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Juanitas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Juanita, while Rhode Island, Alaska, New Hampshire recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,895 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Juanita
Juanita is a feminine given name derived from the Spanish masculine name Juan, which is itself a form of the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious". The name Juanita likely emerged in Spain during the medieval period, as a diminutive or pet form of Juan.
The name gained popularity across the Spanish-speaking world, particularly in Spain and Latin America. One of the earliest known uses of the name Juanita can be found in the 16th-century Spanish novel "La Celestina" by Fernando de Rojas, where it is used as a character's name.
In the realm of religion, Saint Juanita García was a 17th-century Spanish nun and mystic who is venerated in the Catholic Church. She lived from 1628 to 1683 and is known for her devotion to Christ and her mystical visions.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Juanita. Juanita de la Cruz (1648-1695) was a Mexican Catholic mystic and venerated laywoman. Juanita Musson (1851-1935) was an American writer and advocate for women's rights, known for her work in promoting education for women.
Juanita Kreps (1917-2010) was an American economist and the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of Commerce, under President Jimmy Carter. Juanita Castro (born 1933) is a Cuban revolutionary and the sister of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Juanita Millender-McDonald (1938-2007) was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from California. She was known for her advocacy for minority communities and her work on issues related to education and health care.
These examples demonstrate the historical and cultural significance of the name Juanita, which has been borne by notable individuals across various fields, including religion, literature, politics, and social activism.
People
Juanita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Juanita 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
Juanita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Juanita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 74,367 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Juanita 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 4,609 US residents.
Is Juanita a common name?
We classify Juanita as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 208,612 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Juanita most popular?
The single biggest year for Juanita was 1924, when 5,428 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Juanita is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Juanita in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 98,829 people with the name Juanita, or 32.72 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #555 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 Juanita 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 Juanita?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Juanita appears almost entirely female. Of the 98,833 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Juanita?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Juanita is White at 36.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (34.7%) and Black (23.1%). 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 Juanita most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Juanita in the 2020 Census, accounting for 36.6% (36,208 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 Juanita in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Juanita a female name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Juanita 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 Juanita still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Juanita 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 Juanita 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 the name Juanita?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.