Joanna
Feminine · “God is gracious”
Joanna is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 111,761 girls against 306 boys since 1880.
Joanna is the feminine of John, and it reaches English through Greek: Ἰωάννα, the name of one of the women named in the Gospel of Luke as supporting Jesus's ministry. Three syllables that open wide in the middle and land softly — jo-AN-uh — with a spelling almost nobody has to be told twice. It has been in continuous use in English since the Middle Ages, and it is still being given to babies now.
How old is the name Joanna?
Joanna was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Joanna alive today was born around 1987, making them about 38 years old. About 99,000 people named Joanna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Joanna most popular?
Joanna peaked in 1984, reaching #88 nationally. Today it ranks #306, 218 places below that high. See the whole 1984 chart.
Joanna appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Yohanan to Joanna
The story of Joanna
The root is the Hebrew Yohanan, which Greek-speaking writers rendered as Ioannes for men and Ioanna for women. Joanna appears in the Gospel of Luke as the wife of Chuza, listed among the women who traveled with and supported Jesus — which carried the name into Latin as Iohanna and out across Christian Europe. Every language shaped it to its own mouth: Giovanna in Italy, Juana in Spain, Jeanne in France, Johanna in Germany and the Netherlands, Joanna in Poland and England alike. The English spelling has held steady for centuries, and its popularity here has moved in long slow waves rather than sharp spikes.
Meaning
God is gracious
From the Hebrew name Yohanan, 'Yahweh is gracious', by way of the Greek feminine form Ioanna. It is the same root as John, Jane, Jean and Joan.
How the name formed
- Yohanan
- Ioanna
- Iohanna
- Johanna
- Joanna
Related forms: Ioanna · Joanna · Johanna · Giovanna · Juana · Jeanne
Pronouncing Joanna
jo-AN-uh
Stress on the middle syllable in English. In Polish, where the same spelling is common, it is said yo-AH-na.
Nicknames for Joanna
High
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 19843,332 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #88reached in 1984
- Change vs 2022
- −0.5%997 in 2025, from 1,002
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.
Joanna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ioanna in Greek — transliteration
- Joanna in Polish — same name
- Johanna in German — spelling variant
- Giovanna in Italian — same name
- Juana in Spanish — same name
- Jeanne in French — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Joannas among us
people named Joanna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,612 born in 2025 was named Joanna
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 Maureen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Joanna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Maureen climbed just as high around 1948, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Maureen's path sketches the road Joanna is walking now.
Joanna 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 Joanna is headed
Joanna should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Joanna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Joanna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds for English speakers, with the stress falling where readers expect it.
- Has recognizable counterparts in most European languages — Giovanna, Juana, Jeanne, Johanna — so it travels without translation.
- Comes with short forms already in circulation: Jo, Jojo, Annie, Anna, each usable without explanation.
- A documented record stretching back to Greek scripture and unbroken use in English since the Middle Ages.
- Familiar to almost everyone while rarely doubled up in a classroom.
- Joanna, Joanne, Johanna and Joan are four different names that sound close and get swapped constantly. Expect a lifetime of gentle corrections, especially over the phone and in writing.
- The name is strongly represented among adults today, so many people will meet a grown Joanna before they meet a small one. That is shifting as it settles into the classic range.
- Jo is shared with Josephine, Joanne and Joan, so the nickname alone will not always identify her.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Joanna
Feminine · #306 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Joannas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 99,000 people named Joanna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Joanna in 2025?
- Joanna ranks #306 among US girl names in 2025, with 997 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Joanna?
- About 1 in every 1,612 US girls born in 2025 was named Joanna — 997 in all.
- Will my child share the name Joanna with classmates?
- Joanna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Joanna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Francesca#307 · Adelina#304 · Octavia#308 · Elaine#304 · Harlow#309 · Kimberly#302 · Elodie#310 · Daniela#302
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Joanna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Joanna and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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