Johannah
Feminine · “God is gracious”
Johannah is the feminine of Johanan — God is gracious — in the fullest spelling English gives it. Joanna, Johanna, Johannah and Jo are all the same name at different lengths, and the h-heavy version belongs to the nineteenth century, when English still spelled its Hebrew names the German way.
How old is the name Johannah?
Johannah was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Johannah alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 2,700 people named Johannah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Johannah most popular?
Johannah peaked in 1884, reaching #640 nationally. Today it ranks #5238, 4,598 places below that high. See the whole 1884 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yôḥānān to Johannah
The story of Johannah
Joanna appears in Luke's gospel as the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, one of the women who supported Jesus and who came to the tomb. The name was ordinary through Christian Europe in every language's version, and English had Joan for centuries as the standard feminine of John before Jane displaced it. The longer Latin and German spellings — Johanna, Johannah — came into English use in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and America used them heavily among German, Scandinavian and Irish families. The 1884 peak in the American record sits at the height of that usage, and the name has been rare since 1930.
Meaning
God is gracious
From Hebrew Yôḥānān, from the divine name Yah and ḥānan, to be gracious, in its feminine form. The reading is settled and is the same as that of John, Jane, Jean, Ivan, Sean and Giovanni. The doubled n and the final h of Johannah are spelling choices from German and Latin practice, not separate elements.
How the name formed
- Yôḥānān
- Iohanna
- Johanna
- Johannah
Related forms: Johanna · Iohanna · Joanna · Siobhán · Giovanna · Johanna
Pronouncing Johannah
jo-HAN-uh
Three syllables, stress on the second. German says yo-HAH-nah with a y at the front, and the h in the middle is fully sounded in both languages.
Nicknames for Johannah
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
- 2010110 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #640reached in 1884
- Change vs 2022
- +20.0%24 in 2025, from 20
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.
Johannah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Johanna in German — same name
- Iohanna in Latin — related form
- Joanna in English — spelling variant
- Siobhán in Irish — related form
- Giovanna in Italian — related form
- Johanna in Dutch — same name
Johannahs among us
people named Johannah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 66,969 born in 2025 was named Johannah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Johannah
- #5238
- Johannah on the 2025 chart
- #580
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Johannah went to 24 girls in 2025, but Johanna and Johana are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 413, which makes it the 580th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,658 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 3,892 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 66,969 for Johannah 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
Fashion outlook
Johannah 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
Johannah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Johannah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and shared with one of the largest name families in the world.
- Jo, Hannah and Josie are all ready-made and completely ordinary.
- The name is spelled recognizably across most of Europe.
- Joanna and Johanna are both commoner and will be written for it.
- The final h has no function in English and will be dropped constantly.
- It is strongly associated with the nineteenth century in American ears.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Johannah to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Johannah? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Johannah
Feminine · #5238 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Johannahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,700 people named Johannah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Johannah?
- Johannah is one of 3 recorded spellings. Johanna is the more common one — 309 births in 2025 against 24 for Johannah.
- How popular is the name Johannah in 2025?
- Johannah ranks #5238 among US girl names in 2025, with 24 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Johannah?
- About 1 in every 66,969 US girls born in 2025 was named Johannah — 24 in all.
- Will my child share the name Johannah with classmates?
- Johannah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Johannah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Irena#5238 · Esma#5238 · Dagny#5238 · Venice#5238 · Lisbeth#5238 · Loralie#5238 · Alania#5238 · Erma#5238
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Johannah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Johannah and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle