Joao
A masculine Portuguese name derived from the Hebrew name Yohanan meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 2,143 living Americans carry the first name Joao. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Joao today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joao births was 2024 (133 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joao. 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 Joao with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 159,941 Americans
Peak year
2024
133 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,405
Tracked since 1918
Census
Joao in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,850 people with the first name Joao, which placed it at #2,661 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
#2,661
National first-name rank
People counted
8.8K
8,850 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joao
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joao is White at 73.6%. The next largest groups are Black (12.2%) and Hispanic (9.3%). 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 Joao 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 Joao at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.6% · 6,518
- Black or African American12.2% · 1,084
- Hispanic or Latino9.3% · 824
- Two or more races2.3% · 206
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 195
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 23
Popularity
Joao: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joao from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 530 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joao 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 Joao during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Joaos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Massachusetts, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Joao, while Virginia, Georgia, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 119 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Joao
The given name Joao has its origins in the Latin Iohannes, which itself is derived from the Hebrew name Yochanan. This name was borne by several important figures in the Bible, including John the Baptist and the author of the Gospel of John. The name Iohannes was adopted into Greek and later into Latin, before evolving into the various forms we see today across different languages.
In the early centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, the Latin name Iohannes was gradually transformed into different spellings and pronunciations across Europe. The Portuguese form Joao emerged during this period, likely influenced by the Visigothic pronunciation of the name. The earliest known written record of the name Joao in Portugal dates back to the 10th century.
One of the earliest and most notable figures to bear the name Joao was João I, who reigned as King of Portugal from 1385 to 1433. He was a pivotal figure in the Portuguese struggle for independence from the Kingdom of Castile and played a crucial role in establishing the House of Aviz, which would rule Portugal for nearly two centuries.
Another prominent figure in history with the name Joao was João de Barros, a 16th-century Portuguese historian and writer who is considered one of the earliest and most important chroniclers of the Portuguese Age of Discovery. His work, "Décadas da Ásia," documented the Portuguese expansion into Asia and is a valuable source of information about the early years of the Portuguese Empire.
In the realm of literature, one cannot overlook João da Cruz, a 16th-century Spanish mystic and poet who is widely regarded as one of the greatest lyric poets in the Spanish language. His works, such as "Spiritual Canticle" and "Dark Night of the Soul," have had a profound influence on the mystical tradition in both Spain and Portugal.
Moving into the 20th century, João Guimarães Rosa was a Brazilian novelist and short-story writer who is considered one of the most influential and innovative authors in Brazilian literature. His masterpiece, "Grande Sertão: Veredas," published in 1956, is a landmark work that blends elements of regionalism, philosophy, and magical realism.
Finally, João Gilberto, a Brazilian singer and guitarist, is widely credited as the primary force behind the creation of the bossa nova genre in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His innovative and minimalist style of guitar playing and his distinctive vocal delivery had a profound impact on Brazilian music and influenced countless musicians around the world.
People
Joao + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joao 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
Joao: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joao?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,143 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joao 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 159,941 US residents.
Is Joao a common name?
We classify Joao as "Rare". It ranks above 94% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,230 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joao most popular?
The single biggest year for Joao was 2024, when 133 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joao is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joao in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,850 people with the name Joao, or 2.93 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,661 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 Joao 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 Joao?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joao appears almost entirely male. Of the 8,843 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Joao?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joao is White at 73.6%. The next largest groups are Black (12.2%) and Hispanic (9.3%). 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 Joao most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Joao in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.6% (6,518 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 Joao in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joao a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joao 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 Joao still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joao 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 Joao 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 Joao?
See how many people share the name Joao on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.