Giovana
Feminine · “Hebrew Yohanan”
No name in Europe has more descendants than John. Jane, Joan, Jean, Joanna, Giovanna, Juana, Ivana, Yana, Sian, Zsanett and Giovana are all the same Hebrew sentence, and the female branch alone runs to well over a hundred forms.
How old is the name Giovana?
Giovana first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Giovana alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 900 people named Giovana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Giovana most popular?
Giovana peaked in 1993, reaching #2882 nationally. Today it ranks #10107, 7,225 places below that high. See the whole 1993 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yohanan to Giovana
The story of Giovana
Two things made John the most productive name in Europe: the Baptist and the Evangelist, two saints of the first rank sharing one name, and the medieval practice of naming a child for the saint on whose day it was born. By the fourteenth century John was carried by a fifth of English men, and every language that received it produced its own form and then its own feminine of that form. The female branch is the larger one, because each masculine form generated several: Giovanni gives Giovanna, Gianna and Giovana; Juan gives Juana and Juanita; Jean gives Jeanne, Jeannette and Jeanine; John gives Jane, Joan, Janet, Janice and Joanna. Counting the diminutives, one Hebrew sentence has produced several hundred living names, and speakers of neighboring languages rarely recognize each other's versions.
Meaning
Hebrew Yohanan, Yah is gracious
Giovana is a spelling of Italian and Portuguese Giovanna, the feminine of Giovanni, from Latin Iohanna and Hebrew Yohanan, a sentence meaning Yah has been gracious. The single-n spelling is standard in Portuguese and a simplification in Italian. The American peak is 1993.
How the name formed
- Yohanan
- Iohanna
- Giovanna
- Giovana
Related forms: Giovanna · Giovana · Juana · Joanna
Pronouncing Giovana
jo-VAH-nah
Three or four syllables depending on speed, stress on the second-to-last. Portuguese says jee-oh-VAH-nah; the single n is not a shortened sound in either language.
Nicknames for Giovana
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
- 1971
- Most girls named
- 200146 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2882reached in 1993
- Change vs 2024
- −35.7%9 in 2025, from 14
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.
Giovana in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Giovanna in Italian — spelling variant
- Giovana in Portuguese — same name
- Juana in Spanish — same name
- Joanna in English — same name
Giovanas among us
people named Giovana are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 178,585 born in 2025 was named Giovana
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Giovana
- #10107
- Giovana on the 2025 chart
- #662
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Giovana went to 9 girls in 2025, but Giovanna is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 313, which makes it the 662nd most-given girls’ name of the year — 9,445 places above the chart.
- Giovanna304
- Giovana9
About 1 girl in 5,135 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 178,585 for Giovana itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Keia test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Giovana's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Keia climbed just as high around 1975, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Keia's path sketches the road Giovana is walking now.
Giovana 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
Giovana beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Giovana in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Gia and Gio are both current short forms.
- The name behind it is the most widely borne in the Western world.
- It works in Italian, Portuguese and English without adjustment.
- Giovanna is the standard Italian spelling.
- It will be heard as Giovanni, which is the male form.
- The 1993 peak dates its American use.
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What they receive
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Giovana
Feminine · #10107 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Giovanas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Giovana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Giovana?
- Giovana is one of 2 recorded spellings. Giovanna is the more common one — 304 births in 2025 against 9 for Giovana.
- How popular is the name Giovana in 2025?
- Giovana ranks #10107 among US girl names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Giovana?
- About 1 in every 178,585 US girls born in 2025 was named Giovana — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Giovana with classmates?
- Giovana will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Giovana
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Berta#10107 · Jettie#10107 · Maye#10107 · Osa#10107 · Fidelia#10107 · Alysa#10107 · Su#10107 · Willie#10107
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Giovana? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Giovana and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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