Giannis
Masculine · “God is gracious”
Giannis is given to both — 1,046 boys and 37 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Giannis is the Greek of John — God is gracious — and it is the everyday form, the one Greeks actually use rather than the formal Ioannis.
How old is the name Giannis?
Giannis first appears in US birth records in 2014 — 11 years ago. The typical Giannis is a kid of about 4 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,000 people named Giannis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Giannis most popular?
Giannis peaked in 2022, reaching #1217 nationally. Today it ranks #1688, 471 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yochanan to Giannis
The story of Giannis
John is the most-used name in Greek naming as in most of Christian Europe, and Giannis is its ordinary spoken form. It reached wide American attention through a Greek-Nigerian basketball player from 2013. It appears in the American registers from that period and is in current use.
Meaning
God is gracious
Through Ioannis and the Hebrew Yochanan — Yah, the divine name, and chanan, 'he was gracious'. Greek took Iohannes and produced Ioannis formally and Giannis in speech. The Hebrew is ordinary and the meaning undisputed.
How the name formed
- Yochanan
- Iohannes
- Ioannis
- Giannis
Related forms: Γιάννης · Ioannis · John
Pronouncing Giannis
YAH-nis
Two syllables, stress on the first. The gi is a y sound in Greek; English speakers often say GEE-ah-nis.
Nicknames for Giannis
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 2014
- Most boys named
- 2022162 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1217reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- −21.8%97 in 2025, from 124
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Giannis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Γιάννης in Greek — transliteration
- Ioannis in Greek — related form
- John in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Gianniss among us
people named Giannis are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 17,609 born in 2025 was named Giannis
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Demetrio test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Giannis's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Demetrio climbed just as high around 1908, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Demetrio's path sketches the road Giannis is walking now.
Giannis sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Giannis is headed
Giannis looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 23% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Giannis beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Giannis in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is a complete statement and is undisputed.
- It belongs to the largest name family in European history.
- Yanni is available as a softer and more legible alternative.
- The initial gi is a y in Greek and will be mispronounced by English speakers.
- Ioannis is the formal Greek and will be assumed on documents.
- One athlete carries a very strong association.
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What they receive
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Giannis
Masculine · #1688 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Gianniss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Giannis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Giannis in 2025?
- Giannis ranks #1688 among US boy names in 2025, with 97 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Giannis?
- About 1 in every 17,609 US boys born in 2025 was named Giannis — 97 in all.
- Will my child share the name Giannis with classmates?
- Giannis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Giannis
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Alister#1688 · Yaman#1688 · Caelum#1688 · Darrell#1688 · Viggo#1688 · Raylen#1688 · Meyer#1688 · Ransom#1688
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Giannis? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Giannis and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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