Johnna
Feminine · “Hebrew "Yahweh is gracious”
Jack is from John, not from Jacques. The medieval English diminutive Jankin — John plus a Flemish -kin ending — wore down to Jackin and then Jack, and the resemblance to the French Jacques is a coincidence that has been misleading people for centuries.
How old is the name Johnna?
Johnna first appears in US birth records in 1919 — 106 years ago. The typical Johnna alive today was born around 1979, making them about 46 years old. About 9,300 people named Johnna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Johnna most popular?
Johnna peaked in 1963, reaching #387 nationally. Today it ranks #7491, 7,104 places below that high. See the whole 1963 chart.
Where it comes from
From Yohanan to Johnna
The story of Johnna
John's dominance in medieval England is hard to overstate: at some points roughly a quarter of recorded men bore it, which is why Johnson is among the commonest surnames in the English-speaking world and why the name generated so many diminutives. Jankin, with the Flemish diminutive -kin also seen in Watkin and Perkin, gave Jack; Jenkin gave the surname Jenkins. Jack then became so common a name for an ordinary man that it entered the language as a common noun — a jack of all trades, a lumberjack, the jack in a deck of cards, and the jack that lifts a car. The female Johnna is much later; the American figures peak in 1963.
Meaning
Hebrew "Yahweh is gracious", with a Latin feminine ending
John is from Yohanan, Yahweh is gracious, through Greek Ioannes and Latin Iohannes. Johnna is an American feminine formed by adding -a, on the model of Roberta and Paula. The established English feminines of John are Joan, Jane and Jean, all from the French Jehanne; Johnna is a twentieth-century American formation and is not used elsewhere.
How the name formed
- Yohanan
- Iohannes
- John
- Johnna
Related forms: Jonna · Joanna · Jane
Pronouncing Johnna
JON-uh
Two syllables, stress on the first. It is not jo-HAN-uh; that is Johanna, a different name with a sounded h and three syllables.
Nicknames for Johnna
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
- 1919
- Most girls named
- 1964358 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #387reached in 1963
- Change vs 2023
- −22.2%14 in 2025, from 18
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.
Johnna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Jonna in English — spelling variant
- Joanna in English — related form
- Jane in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Pennsylvania, Illinois.
Johnnas among us
people named Johnna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 114,805 born in 2025 was named Johnna
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 Dortha test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Johnna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Dortha climbed just as high around 1921, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Dortha's path sketches the road Johnna is walking now.
Johnna 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
Johnna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Johnna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The base name is among the most widespread in the world.
- Jo is an immediate short form that stands alone.
- It is short, phonetic and easy to spell.
- It is constantly confused with Johanna, which is a different name.
- It reads as a made feminine of a man's name, which some families weigh.
- The 1960s peak dates a bearer fairly clearly.
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What they receive
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Johnna
Feminine · #7491 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Johnnas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 9,300 people named Johnna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Johnna in 2025?
- Johnna ranks #7491 among US girl names in 2025, with 14 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Johnna?
- About 1 in every 114,805 US girls born in 2025 was named Johnna — 14 in all.
- Will my child share the name Johnna with classmates?
- Johnna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Johnna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Christie#7491 · Carmelita#7491 · Jetta#7491 · Hildegard#7491 · Rickie#7491 · Billy#7491 · Angelyn#7491 · Jewell#7491
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Johnna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Johnna and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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