Jo
A diminutive form of the feminine names Joanne or Josephine.
Name Census estimates that about 98,101 living Americans carry the first name Jo. It is a predominantly female name (99.0% of registrations). The average person named Jo today is around 71 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jo births was 1954 (8,077 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jo. 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 Jo with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jo is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,846 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Jo is about 71 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Jos were born before 1965.
- • Compared to the 1950s, recent registration numbers for Jo have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
98K
~ 1 in 3,494 Americans
Peak year
1954
8,077 babies that year
Average age
71
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,314
Tracked since 1881
Census
Jo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 57,896 people with the first name Jo, which placed it at #818 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
#818
National first-name rank
People counted
58K
57,896 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
19.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jo is White at 82.9%. The next largest groups are Black (7.4%) and Hispanic (4.5%). 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 Jo 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 Jo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.9% · 47,987
- Black or African American7.4% · 4,310
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 2,585
- Two or more races2.5% · 1,444
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 1,097
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 473
Gender
Gender distribution for Jo
Jo leans heavily female at 99.0% of total registrations, but 1,846 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jo as a male name
- Ranked #7,449 in 2024
- 11 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1960 (40 births)
Jo as a female name
- Ranked #4,314 in 2024
- 33 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1954 (8,052 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jo leans strongly female. 54,854 people counted with this name were female (94.7%), compared with 3,049 male bearers (5.3%).
Popularity
Jo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jo from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 64,225 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jo 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 Jo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, New York, California recorded the most babies named Jo, while Alaska, Nevada, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,443 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jo
The name Jo is a diminutive form of various longer names, primarily derived from the Hebrew name Joseph or the Latin name Josephus. Its origins can be traced back to ancient times, with roots in both biblical and classical traditions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jo appears in the Old Testament of the Bible, where it is used as a shortened form of the name Joseph, the son of Jacob and Rachel. Joseph's story is a significant part of the biblical narrative, depicting him as a dreamer and interpreter of dreams who rose to become a powerful figure in ancient Egypt.
In the classical world, the name Josephus was borne by the renowned Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who lived from around 37 to 100 AD. His works, including "The Jewish War" and "Antiquities of the Jews," provide invaluable insights into the history and culture of ancient Judea and the Roman Empire.
Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the name Jo continued to be used as a diminutive form of Joseph or Josephus, particularly in European countries with Christian traditions. Notable figures from this period include Jo Bunō (1282-1348), a Japanese Zen Buddhist monk and poet, and Jo van Ammers-Küller (1521-1591), a Dutch feminist writer and humanist.
In more recent history, the name Jo has been embraced by individuals across various fields. Jo Rowling (born 1965), better known as J.K. Rowling, is the celebrated British author of the Harry Potter book series. Jo Cox (1974-2016) was a British politician and advocate for human rights, tragically murdered in 2016.
Other notable individuals with the name Jo include Jo Stafford (1917-2008), an American jazz singer and actress, and Jo Andres (1888-1945), an American filmmaker and artist known for his avant-garde experimental films.
While the name Jo has its roots in ancient Hebrew and Latin origins, it has transcended cultural boundaries and gained popularity across various regions and eras, embraced by individuals from diverse backgrounds and professions.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jo
People
Jo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jo as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 98,101 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jo 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 3,494 US residents.
Is Jo a common name?
We classify Jo as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 180,866 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jo most popular?
The single biggest year for Jo was 1954, when 8,077 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jo is about 71 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 57,896 people with the name Jo, or 19.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #818 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 Jo 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 Jo?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jo leans strongly female. 54,854 people counted with this name were female (94.7%), compared with 3,049 male bearers (5.3%). 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 Jo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jo is White at 82.9%. The next largest groups are Black (7.4%) and Hispanic (4.5%). 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 Jo most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.9% (47,987 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 Jo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jo a female name?
Yes, 99.0% of people registered as Jo in the SSA data are female. 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 Jo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jo 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 Jo 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 Jo?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Jo, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.