girl's name
Joanna
joh-AN-uh
- Origin Hebrew
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 3
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 131,801
the United States
#306
2025 births
Joanna means God is gracious, and it charts in all seven markets we track — the United States 306th, Ireland 367th, Scotland 395th, Northern Ireland 432nd, England and Wales 514th and France 721st. It peaked in 1984 and has 128,678 lifetime births behind it.
- Joanna is a name of Hebrew origin.
- Peaked in 1984, when 3,353 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 3,325 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Joanna over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 290 |
| 1890s | 389 |
| 1900s | 391 |
| 1910s | 1,186 |
| 1920s | 2,233 |
| 1930s | 3,914 |
| 1940s | 4,709 |
| 1950s | 5,151 |
| 1960s | 9,208 |
| 1970s | 15,323 |
| 1980s | 22,370 |
| 1990s | 16,356 |
| 2000s | 12,994 |
| 2010s | 11,414 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 6,139 |
What Joanna means
Joanna means God is gracious. The Hebrew joins a form of the divine name to a verb meaning to show favor, so it states something about God rather than the child.
Where Joanna comes from
Joanna is the Greek Ioanna, the feminine of Ioannes, from the Hebrew Yochanan — God is gracious. Luke names a Joanna among the women who funded Jesus's work and who later find the tomb empty, identifying her as the wife of Herod's steward, which places her unusually high in the social record for a woman named in the Gospels. The family this name heads is enormous: Jane, Joan, Jean, Johanna, Janet, Sinead, Siobhan, Joann and Jeanette are all the same name in different languages.
Joanna in use
Joanna peaked in the United States in 1984, when 3,353 babies were registered, and our data marks it stable rather than falling. It charts in all seven markets we track — 306th in the United States on 997 births, 367th in Ireland on 11, 395th in Scotland on 8, 408th in Canada, 432nd in Northern Ireland, 514th in England and Wales on 78 and 721st in France on 55 — across 131,801 lifetime births.
How popular is Joanna?
In 2025, Joanna was given to 997 babies in the United States, ranking #306 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Joanna is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Joanna is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Jo'Anna | Jo'Anna is Joanna written with an apostrophe, recorded mostly in France. | 5 |
| Jo-Anna | Jo-Anna is Joanna written with a hyphen, recorded mostly in England and Wales. | 3 |
Names that peaked alongside Joanna
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Joanna also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Joanna over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Joanna
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Joanna in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Joanna
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Joanna — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Joanna
What does the name Joanna mean?
God is gracious — the Hebrew Yochanan, in its Greek feminine form.
Is Joanna in the Bible?
Yes — Luke names her among the women who funded Jesus's work and later found the tomb empty.
Which names are related to Joanna?
Jane, Joan, Jean, Johanna, Janet, Sinead and Siobhan are all the same name.
Where is Joanna used?
All six markets we track, from 306th in the United States to 721st in France.
How popular is the name Joanna?
In 2025, Joanna was given to 997 babies in the United States, ranking #306 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Is Joanna a girl's or a boy's name?
Joanna is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Joanna?
Joanna has 3 syllables.
When was Joanna most popular?
Joanna peaked in 1984, when 3,353 babies were given the name. Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Joanna?
Joanna is usually shortened to Jo and Annie.
Is Joanna a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Joanna currently ranks #306 in the United States. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.