Juana
Feminine · “God is gracious”
Juana is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 18,793 girls against 88 boys since 1880.
Juana is the Spanish form of a name that has been traveling for well over two thousand years, from Hebrew through Greek and Latin into nearly every language of Europe. In Spanish it lands in two easy syllables, the J breathed rather than buzzed. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, the seventeenth-century Mexican poet and nun, carried it into the literature of the Americas.
How old is the name Juana?
Juana was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Juana alive today was born around 1975, making them about 50 years old. About 14,000 people named Juana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Juana most popular?
Juana peaked in 1928, reaching #485 nationally. Today it ranks #1222, 737 places below that high. See the whole 1928 chart.
Where it comes from
From Yohanan to Juana
The story of Juana
The name begins as Hebrew Yohanan, which the Greek translators and writers of the ancient world rendered Ioannes, and Latin took up as Iohannes. Christianity carried it everywhere, and each language grew a feminine form beside the masculine: Latin Iohanna, French Jeanne, Italian Giovanna, Spanish Juana. It was borne by Juana I of Castile, queen in the early sixteenth century, and later by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz in colonial Mexico. Spanish speakers brought it to the Americas, and it has been on record in the United States for as long as such records have existed.
Meaning
God is gracious
The root is the Hebrew name Yohanan, built from the divine name and a verb of favor or grace. Juana is its feminine Spanish descendant.
How the name formed
- Yohanan
- Iohannes
- Iohanna
- Joana
- Juana
Related forms: Joana · Jeanne · Giovanna · Joan · Johanna · Joana
Pronouncing Juana
HWAH-nah
In Spanish the J is a soft breath, close to an English H, and the name has two syllables with the stress on the first. English speakers who do not know the spelling convention sometimes try JOO-ah-nah or WAH-nah.
Nicknames for Juana
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1995253 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #485reached in 1928
- Change vs 2022
- +5.7%185 in 2025, from 175
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.
Juana in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Joana in Portuguese — same name
- Jeanne in French — same name
- Giovanna in Italian — same name
- Joan in English — same name
- Johanna in German — same name
- Joana in Catalan — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, California, Texas.
Juanas among us
people named Juana are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 8,688 born in 2025 was named Juana
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 Johnie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Juana's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Johnie climbed just as high around 1907, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Johnie's path sketches the road Juana is walking now.
Juana is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Juana is headed
Juana looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 23% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
High 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.
Juana beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Juana 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, not guessed at, and traceable through Latin and Greek back to Hebrew.
- Every major European language has its own version — Jeanne, Giovanna, Johanna, Joan — so relatives abroad have a familiar equivalent.
- Spelled exactly as Spanish pronounces it: no silent letters, no ambiguity for anyone who reads Spanish.
- Juanita has served as its diminutive for centuries, so the short form comes ready-made.
- Strongly represented in Florida, California and Texas, where the pronunciation needs no explaining.
- In English-speaking settings the J will be read hard by people who don't know Spanish, so the name may need correcting fairly often — a small, lifelong housekeeping task.
- Spanish slang has long used "María Juana" for marijuana, and older kids sometimes find that joke. It attaches to the pairing more than to Juana alone, but it is worth knowing about in advance.
- It is uncommon enough now that a Juana will likely be the only one in her class — pleasant for some families, and worth a thought if you'd prefer a name others already recognize on sight.
- The name is still widely worn by adults, so it may read as belonging to an older generation before it reads as a revival.
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What they receive
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Juana
Feminine · #1222 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Juanas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 14,000 people named Juana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Juana in 2025?
- Juana ranks #1222 among US girl names in 2025, with 185 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Juana?
- About 1 in every 8,688 US girls born in 2025 was named Juana — 185 in all.
- Will my child share the name Juana with classmates?
- Juana will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Juana
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Carolyn#1222 · Kalea#1222 · Carmela#1219 · Zhamira#1225 · Aiyana#1225 · Fern#1219 · Shay#1225 · Sama#1219
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Juana? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Juana and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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