Ioan
A masculine name of Greek and Romanian origin meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 125 living Americans carry the first name Ioan. It is a predominantly male name (96.2% of registrations). The average person named Ioan today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ioan births was 2014 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ioan. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ioan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
125
~ 1 in 2,742,035 Americans
Peak year
2014
11 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,918
Tracked since 1917
Census
Ioan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,916 people with the first name Ioan, which placed it at #7,791 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,791
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,916 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
96.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ioan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ioan is White at 96.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.8%) and Two or More Races (0.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ioan described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ioan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White96.6% · 1,850
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 34
- Two or more races0.8% · 16
- Black or African American0.4% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Ioan
Ioan leans heavily male at 96.2% of total registrations, but 5 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ioan as a male name
- Ranked #10,255 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (11 births)
Ioan as a female name
- Ranked #4,918 in 1917
- 5 female births in 1917
- Peak: 1917 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ioan leans strongly male. 1,883 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 25 female bearers (1.3%).
Popularity
Ioan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ioan from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 54 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ioan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ioan by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ioan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ioan
The name Ioan is derived from the ancient Greek name Ioannes, which is a variant of the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious". This name has its origins in the biblical figure John the Baptist, who was a Jewish preacher and a forerunner of Jesus Christ.
The name Ioan is commonly used in Romania, Moldova, and other regions with Romanian cultural influence. It is the Romanian equivalent of the English name John and is pronounced as "Yo-an". This name was introduced to the region through the influence of the Eastern Orthodox Church, which used the Greek version of the name.
In the early Christian era, the name Ioan gained popularity as it was associated with John the Apostle, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. The name is mentioned in various religious texts, including the New Testament, where John the Apostle is referred to as Ioan in the Romanian translations.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Ioan is Ioan Cauleas, a Romanian voivode (ruler) who lived in the 14th century and played a significant role in the formation of the Principality of Wallachia. Another notable figure is Ioan Voda the Terrible, a 16th-century ruler of Moldavia, known for his cruelty and fierce resistance against the Ottoman Empire.
In the 17th century, Ioan Cantacuzino, a Romanian nobleman and scholar, served as the Prince of Wallachia and made significant contributions to the cultural and intellectual life of the region. He was also a patron of the arts and literature.
The name Ioan continued to be popular among the Romanian aristocracy and intellectuals. Ioan Heliade Radulescu, a 19th-century Romanian writer, philosopher, and revolutionary, played a crucial role in the development of modern Romanian literature and the creation of the first Romanian school system.
Another notable figure is Ioan Slavici, a 19th-century Romanian novelist and short story writer, known for his realistic portrayal of rural life and his contributions to the development of Romanian literature.
People
Ioan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ioan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ioan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ioan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 125 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ioan going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,742,035 US residents.
Is Ioan a common name?
We classify Ioan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 131 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ioan most popular?
The single biggest year for Ioan was 2014, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ioan is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ioan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,916 people with the name Ioan, or 0.63 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,791 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ioan in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ioan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ioan leans strongly male. 1,883 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 25 female bearers (1.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ioan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ioan is White at 96.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.8%) and Two or More Races (0.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ioan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ioan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.6% (1,850 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ioan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ioan a male name?
Yes, 96.2% of people registered as Ioan in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Ioan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ioan in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ioan can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Ioan?
See how many people have the name Ioan on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.