Jiovani
Masculine · “God is gracious”
Jiovani is Giovanni respelled so that English and Spanish readers get the sound right on the first try. The name underneath is Italy's John, for centuries the most-given name in the country, and it means what John means everywhere: God has been gracious.
How old is the name Jiovani?
Jiovani first appears in US birth records in 1988 — 37 years ago. The typical Jiovani alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 700 people named Jiovani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jiovani most popular?
Jiovani peaked in 2009, reaching #3105 nationally. Today it ranks #4707, 1,602 places below that high. See the whole 2009 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yochanan to Jiovani
The story of Jiovani
Giovanni carried the Gospel writer and the Baptist through Italy for a millennium and was for centuries the commonest name in the country. Italian families brought it to the United States in enormous numbers, and there it met a problem: English readers say the g soft or hard by turns, and Spanish has no gi- like Italy's. The answer was to write the sound instead, giving Jiovani, Jovani and Giovany, spellings that appear across Mexican-American and Central American families as much as Italian-American ones. It is the same name, written by ear.
Meaning
God is gracious
Through Italian Giovanni from Latin Ioannes and Greek Ioannes, and behind them Hebrew Yochanan: Yah, the divine name, with the verb chanan, to show favor.
How the name formed
- Yochanan
- Ioannes
- Giovanni
- Jiovani
Related forms: Giovanni · Juan · John · João · Jean · Ivan
Pronouncing Jiovani
jee-oh-VAH-nee
Four syllables, stress on the third. The Italian Giovanni is said the same way; this spelling exists only to make that obvious.
Nicknames for Jiovani
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
- 1988
- Most boys named
- 200937 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3105reached in 2009
- Change vs 2024
- −40.0%21 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.
Jiovani in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Giovanni in Italian — spelling variant
- Juan in Spanish — related form
- John in English — same name
- João in Portuguese — same name
- Jean in French — same name
- Ivan in Russian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Jiovanis among us
people named Jiovani are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 81,337 born in 2025 was named Jiovani
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Jiovani
- #4707
- Jiovani on the 2025 chart
- #790
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Jiovani went to 21 boys in 2025, but Jiovanni and Jiovanny are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 138, which makes it the 790th most-given boys’ name of the year — 3,917 places above the chart.
- Jiovanni108
- Jiovani21
- Jiovanny9
About 1 boy in 12,377 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 81,337 for Jiovani 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 Markeese test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jiovani's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Markeese climbed just as high around 1991, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Markeese's path sketches the road Jiovani is walking now.
Jiovani 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
Jiovani beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jiovani in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It sits comfortably in Italian, Spanish and English households at once.
- Gio is a ready short form that works at every age.
- The name behind it is one of the most documented in Europe.
- Giovanni is the standard spelling and will be substituted constantly.
- Four syllables is long for American paperwork, and the name gets clipped without anyone asking.
- Jovani, Giovany and Jiovanni all exist, so the family will be spelling it out often.
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What they receive
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Jiovani
Masculine · #4707 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jiovanis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Jiovani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Jiovani?
- Jiovani is one of 3 recorded spellings. Jiovanni is the more common one — 108 births in 2025 against 21 for Jiovani.
- How popular is the name Jiovani in 2025?
- Jiovani ranks #4707 among US boy names in 2025, with 21 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jiovani?
- About 1 in every 81,337 US boys born in 2025 was named Jiovani — 21 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jiovani with classmates?
- Jiovani will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jiovani
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ole#4707 · Shelton#4707 · Constantino#4707 · Adel#4707 · Cord#4707 · Zalman#4707 · Montez#4707 · Homer#4707
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jiovani? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jiovani and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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