Joie
Feminine · “joy”
Joie is given to both — 2,968 girls and 242 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Joie is the French word for joy, and English already half-owns it through the phrase joie de vivre — the joy of living, which English borrowed whole because it had no equally compact way of saying the same thing.
How old is the name Joie?
Joie first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Joie alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 2,700 people named Joie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Joie most popular?
Joie peaked in 1976, reaching #1662 nationally. Today it ranks #2778, 1,116 places below that high. See the whole 1976 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From gaudium to Joie
The story of Joie
Gaudium gave Old French joie, and Norman French carried it into English as joy in the Middle Ages — one of thousands of abstract nouns English took from French in that period and then kept. Joy became an English virtue name in the Puritan era, alongside Faith and Mercy. Joie is the French form used as a name in its own right, and it reaches American records in modest numbers, most visibly in the second half of the twentieth century. The phrase joie de vivre has kept the French spelling familiar to English readers who use no other French at all.
Meaning
joy
French joie, from Latin gaudia, the plural of gaudium, 'delight', from gaudere, 'to rejoice'. English joy comes down the same road and is the same word in an English coat. The reading is exact and undisputed; Joie is simply the French spelling of it.
How the name formed
- gaudium
- joie
- joy
Related forms: Joy · Joie · Gioia · Gaudium
Pronouncing Joie
ZHWAH
One syllable in French, beginning with the soft zh of measure and ending in an open ah. American English almost always says it as JOY instead, treating the spelling as a variant, and that is by far the more common saying in the United States.
Nicknames for Joie
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
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 201985 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1662reached in 1976
- Change vs 2023
- +5.2%61 in 2025, from 58
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.
Joie in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Joy in English — same name
- Joie in French — same name
- Gioia in Italian — related form
- Gaudium in Latin — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Joies among us
people named Joie are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 26,349 born in 2025 was named Joie
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 Ermelinda test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Joie's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ermelinda climbed just as high around 1930, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ermelinda's path sketches the road Joie is walking now.
Joie 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 Joie is headed
Joie 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.
Joie beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Joie 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 immediate and needs no explanation in any Western country.
- Four letters, and English speakers who default to JOY are still saying a real name.
- Jo and Joy are both ready alternatives with long records of their own.
- The French and American pronunciations are entirely different, so the child will have to choose one and defend it.
- Joie will be read as a misspelling of Joy by most Americans who see it written.
- It is very short, with no longer formal version available.
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What they receive
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Joie
Feminine · #2778 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Joies 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 Joie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Joie in 2025?
- Joie ranks #2778 among US girl names in 2025, with 61 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Joie?
- About 1 in every 26,349 US girls born in 2025 was named Joie — 61 in all.
- Will my child share the name Joie with classmates?
- Joie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Joie
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Amour#2778 · Aela#2778 · Wynona#2778 · Eugenia#2778 · Bennie#2778 · Wisdom#2778 · Havyn#2778 · Lili#2778
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Joie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Joie and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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