Ioannis
Masculine · “God is gracious”
Ioannis is the Greek form of John, and it is the closest of all the European forms to the original — the Hebrew Yohanan passed into Greek almost unchanged and every other language took it from there.
How old is the name Ioannis?
Ioannis first appears in US birth records in 1964 — 61 years ago. The typical Ioannis alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 1,400 people named Ioannis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ioannis most popular?
Ioannis peaked in 1981, reaching #1661 nationally. Today it ranks #3757, 2,096 places below that high. See the whole 1981 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yohanan to Ioannis
The story of Ioannis
Greek is the hinge in this name's history: Hebrew Yohanan became Ioannes, and Latin, and then every language of Europe, took the Greek rather than the original. Modern Greek keeps Ioannis and its everyday form Yannis. It has been among the most-used Greek men's names for centuries, traditionally given to a son after his grandfather, and it reaches American records with Greek families.
Meaning
God is gracious
From Hebrew Yohanan, joining a form of the divine name to a verb meaning to be gracious; Greek made Ioannes, Latin Iohannes, and every European form descends from the Latin rather than from the Hebrew.
How the name formed
- Yohanan
- Ioannes
- Ioannis
Related forms: John · Ivan · Juan · Giovanni
Pronouncing Ioannis
yo-AH-nees
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. English speakers often say ee-oh-AN-is.
Nicknames for Ioannis
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
- 1964
- Most boys named
- 201840 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1661reached in 1981
- Change vs 2024
- −17.1%29 in 2025, from 35
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.
Ioannis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- John in English — same name
- Ivan in Russian — same name
- Juan in Spanish — same name
- Giovanni in Italian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Illinois.
Ioanniss among us
people named Ioannis are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 58,899 born in 2025 was named Ioannis
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 Audra test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ioannis's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Audra climbed just as high around 1915, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Audra's path sketches the road Ioannis is walking now.
Ioannis 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 Ioannis is headed
Ioannis should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. 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.
Ioannis beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ioannis in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning and the closest European form to the Hebrew original.
- John is available immediately as an entirely familiar equivalent.
- Extremely well used in Greece, so it has a very large community behind it.
- Seven letters and three syllables is a fair amount for American forms.
- The Greek and American pronunciations differ at the opening.
- John is the form most Americans will default to.
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What they receive
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Ioannis
Masculine · #3757 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ioanniss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Ioannis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ioannis in 2025?
- Ioannis ranks #3757 among US boy names in 2025, with 29 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ioannis?
- About 1 in every 58,899 US boys born in 2025 was named Ioannis — 29 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ioannis with classmates?
- Ioannis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ioannis
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Stanton#3757 · Reymundo#3757 · Greer#3757 · Zaven#3757 · Kelson#3757 · Javin#3757 · Faizan#3757 · Wilfred#3757
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ioannis? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ioannis 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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