Ioannis
Greek form of the Hebrew name "John", meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 1,332 living Americans carry the first name Ioannis. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ioannis today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ioannis births was 2018 (40 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ioannis. 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.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 257,323 Americans
Peak year
2018
40 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,348
Tracked since 1964
Popularity
Ioannis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ioannis from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 283 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ioannis remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ioannis 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 Ioannis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ioannis' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, Massachusetts, Illinois recorded the most babies named Ioannis, while Florida, New Jersey, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 81 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ioannis
The given name Ioannis has its origins in the Greek language and culture, and it can be traced back to the Hellenistic period of ancient Greece. It is derived from the Hebrew name Yochanan, which means "Yahweh is gracious." The name Ioannis is a transliteration of the Greek form of the name, Ioannes.
The name Ioannis appears frequently in the New Testament of the Bible, as it was the name of several significant figures, including John the Baptist and John the Apostle. In the Gospel of John, the name Ioannis is used to refer to John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus in the Jordan River.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Ioannis dates back to the 4th century AD, when Ioannis Chrysostomos, also known as John Chrysostom (347-407), was a prominent Christian bishop and preacher in the Byzantine Empire. He is renowned for his eloquence and is considered one of the greatest preachers in the history of Christianity.
In the 6th century, Ioannis Philoponos (490-570) was a prominent philosopher, grammarian, and Christian theologian who made significant contributions to the fields of physics and logic. He was one of the first scholars to challenge the ideas of Aristotle and paved the way for the development of modern science.
During the Byzantine period, the name Ioannis was also borne by several emperors, including Ioannis I Tzimiskes (925-976), who ruled from 969 to 976 and is known for his military campaigns against the Muslims and the Bulgarians.
In the 20th century, Ioannis Metaxas (1871-1941) was a prominent Greek military officer and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Greece from 1936 to 1941. He is known for his authoritarian rule and for his role in leading Greece during the early years of World War II.
Another notable figure with the name Ioannis is Ioannis Kapodistrias (1776-1831), a Greek statesman and diplomat who served as the first head of state of independent Greece after the Greek War of Independence. He is considered one of the most prominent political figures in modern Greek history.
People
Ioannis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ioannis 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
Ioannis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ioannis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,332 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ioannis 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 257,323 US residents.
Is Ioannis a common name?
We classify Ioannis as "Rare". It ranks above 91.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,370 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ioannis most popular?
The single biggest year for Ioannis was 2018, when 40 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ioannis is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Ioannis a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ioannis 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.
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.