Joice
Feminine · “from the Breton saint Judoc”
Joice is Joyce in the spelling that is ordinary in Brazil, a name that came from a Breton saint and became, in English, a woman's name almost everywhere. Its most quoted American bearer was a man, a poet who wrote about a tree.
How old is the name Joice?
Joice first appears in US birth records in 1921 — 104 years ago. The typical Joice alive today was born around 1945, making them about 80 years old. About 300 people named Joice are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Joice most popular?
Joice peaked in 1942, reaching #1706 nationally. See the whole 1942 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Iudoc to Joice
The story of Joice
Joyce was a man's name in the Middle Ages before it became mostly a woman's, and it could still be a man's in the twentieth century: Joyce Kilmer wrote the poem Trees, with its line about never seeing a poem lovely as a tree, and was killed in France in the First World War. In Brazil, where English names were taken up and spelled by Portuguese rules, Joyce is commonly written Joice. The American Joice may come from either habit.
Meaning
from the Breton saint Judoc
Joyce comes from Josse, the French form of the Breton name Iodoc or Judoc, borne by a seventh-century hermit saint. Joice is a spelling of it.
How the name formed
- Iudoc
- Josse
- Joyce
- Joice
Related forms: Joice · Joyce · Josse
Pronouncing Joice
JOYS
One syllable, said like Joyce. In Brazil, ZHOY-see.
Nicknames for Joice
Limited
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
- 1921
- Most girls named
- 194224 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1706reached in 1942
- Change vs 2011
- +80.0%9 in 2017, from 5
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.
Joice in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Joice in Portuguese — same name
- Joyce in English — spelling variant
- Josse in French — related form
Joices among us
people named Joice are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Joice sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It sounds exactly like a familiar name.
- Joy is a ready, warm short form.
- It works in English and Portuguese.
- People will write Joyce.
- Some will read it in two syllables, JOY-see.
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What they receive
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Joice
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Joices are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Joice are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Joice in 2025?
- Joice is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Joice with classmates?
- Joice will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More J names
The most-given names starting with J, all years combined.
Jennifer#586 · Jessica#665 · Janet#2778 · Julie#872 · Joyce#1071 · Joan#1085 · Julia#131 · Jean#2117
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Joice? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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