Recorded 1880–2025 · United States
Joan was most popular in 1932, when 21,132 American babies were given the name — ranking #12 that year. In 2025 it ranked #1,255, with 454 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 488,939 people named Joan.
The Social Security Administration’s records begin in 1880, and Joan is already there in that first year — so the name is older than the record and these figures cannot date it. It has been recorded in 146 of the 146 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 488,939 American births named Joan between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 233,968 are estimated to be alive today.
454 American babies were named Joan in 2025, ranking #1,255 that year.
Joan is rising. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 386 births a year, against 232 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of +67% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Joan is a girl’s name — 98.4% of the 488,939 Americans given it were girls and 1.6% were boys. It changed hands: since 2000 it has gone mainly to boys, having gone mainly to girls before that. In births since 2016 it is 44% girls and 56% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 233,968 Americans named Joan are alive today — 48% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 76 years old, and half are between 68 and 84.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
Hebrew · feminine of John, "God is gracious"
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Joan on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org