girl's name
Journey
JUR-nee
- Origin English
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 7
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 23,582
the United States
#411
2025 births
Journey is a girl's name taken from the English word, from the Old French journee — which meant a day's work or a day's travel. English kept the travel and dropped the day; French kept the day and dropped the travel.
- Journey is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 2018, when 1,504 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 3,966 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1981.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Journey over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1980s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1980s | 86 |
| 1990s | 697 |
| 2000s | 3,765 |
| 2010s | 11,775 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 6,570 |
What Journey means
Journey means a passage or course of travel. Underneath it is the Latin diurnum, of the day, so the word originally measured a trip by how long it took rather than where it went.
Where Journey comes from
Journey comes from the Old French journee, from the Latin diurnum, of the day, through jour. In Old French a journee was a day's work or as far as one could travel between dawn and dusk — a real unit of distance before roads and clocks. English borrowed the travel sense and let the day go; modern French journée means a day and has no travel sense at all. As a given name Journey belongs with the aspirational word names — Destiny, Serenity, Legacy — and appears in our records from 1981.
Journey in use
Journey charts in only three of the seven countries we track and peaked in 2018.
How popular is Journey?
In 2025, Journey was given to 836 babies in the United States, ranking #411 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Journey 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.
Names that peaked alongside Journey
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Journey also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Journey over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Journey
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.
Journey 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 Journey
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Journey — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Journey
What does the name Journey mean?
A passage or course of travel, from the Old French journee — originally a day's work or a day's travel.
What is the difference between Journey and Journee?
Only the spelling. Journee borrows the French ending, though modern French journée means a day, not a trip.
Is Journey a boy's or a girl's name?
It is given mostly to girls.
How popular is the name Journey?
In 2025, Journey was given to 836 babies in the United States, ranking #411 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
How many syllables are in Journey?
Journey has 2 syllables.
When was Journey most popular?
Journey peaked in 2018, when 1,504 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Journey?
Journey is usually shortened to Jo.
Is Journey a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Journey currently ranks #411 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.