Joas
A Portuguese variant of the Hebrew name Joash meaning "given by God".
Name Census estimates that about 269 living Americans carry the first name Joas. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Joas today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joas births was 2021 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joas. 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
269
~ 1 in 1,274,180 Americans
Peak year
2021
14 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,610
Tracked since 1984
Census
Joas in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 365 people with the first name Joas, which placed it at #25,801 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
#25,801
National first-name rank
People counted
365
365 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joas
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joas is White at 63.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.8%) and Black (11.0%). 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 Joas 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 Joas at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.3% · 231
- Hispanic or Latino23.8% · 87
- Black or African American11.0% · 40
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 7
Popularity
Joas: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joas from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 93 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Joas remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joas 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 Joas during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Joas' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Joas
The name Joas is a variant of the Hebrew name Joash or Yehoash, which means "Yahweh is strong" or "Yahweh has bestowed." It is derived from the combination of the Hebrew words "Yahweh" (the name of the God of Israel) and "azaz" (meaning "to be strong" or "to take refuge"). This name has its origins in ancient Israel, dating back to biblical times.
In the Old Testament, Joas or Joash was the name of several kings of Judah and Israel. One of the most notable was King Joash of Judah, who reigned from around 835 to 796 BC. He ascended to the throne at the age of seven and is remembered for restoring the Temple of Jerusalem and ordering repairs to be made during his reign.
Another biblical figure bearing this name was King Joash of Israel, who ruled the northern kingdom of Israel from around 798 to 782 BC. He is mentioned in the Book of Kings as one of the more successful kings of Israel, leading military campaigns against the Arameans and restoring territories to Israel.
Beyond the biblical references, the name Joas has been used throughout history by various individuals. One notable example is Joas, Prince of Portugal (1354-1387), who was the illegitimate son of King Peter I of Portugal and played a significant role in the struggles for the Portuguese throne during the Interregnum period.
In the 15th century, Joas I (1420-1481) was the King of Portugal, reigning from 1438 to 1481. He is known for his efforts to strengthen the Portuguese monarchy and for his support of maritime exploration, which paved the way for the Age of Discovery.
Another historical figure with the name Joas was Joas of Vilnius (c. 1370-1438), a Lithuanian prince and Grand Duke of Lithuania. He played a crucial role in the battles against the Teutonic Knights and is remembered for his military victories against the Order.
While the name Joas is not as common today as it once was, it continues to be used in various parts of the world, particularly in regions with strong Christian or biblical influences. However, its historical roots and significance in religious and cultural contexts make it an intriguing name with a rich heritage.
People
Joas + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joas 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
Joas: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joas?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 269 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joas 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 1,274,180 US residents.
Is Joas a common name?
We classify Joas as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 273 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joas most popular?
The single biggest year for Joas was 2021, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joas is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joas in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 365 people with the name Joas, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,801 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 Joas 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 Joas?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joas leans strongly male. 363 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 4 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Joas?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joas is White at 63.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.8%) and Black (11.0%). 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 Joas most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Joas in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.3% (231 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 Joas in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joas a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joas 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 Joas still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joas 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 Joas 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 people are called Joas?
You can see how many Americans are named Joas on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.