Joelle
Feminine name derived from the Hebrew name Yael meaning "mountain goat".
Name Census estimates that about 15,440 living Americans carry the first name Joelle. It is a predominantly female name (96.8% of registrations). The average person named Joelle today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joelle births was 2017 (456 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joelle. 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 Joelle with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Joelle is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 520 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
15K
~ 1 in 22,199 Americans
Peak year
2017
456 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#919
Tracked since 1918
Census
Joelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 14,735 people with the first name Joelle, which placed it at #1,917 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
#1,917
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
14,735 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joelle is White at 67.6%. The next largest groups are Black (13.5%) and Hispanic (8.4%). 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 Joelle 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 Joelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.6% · 9,959
- Black or African American13.5% · 1,989
- Hispanic or Latino8.4% · 1,235
- Two or more races5.2% · 773
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.6% · 682
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 97
Gender
Gender distribution for Joelle
Joelle leans heavily female at 96.8% of total registrations, but 520 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Joelle as a male name
- Ranked #5,751 in 2024
- 16 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (24 births)
Joelle as a female name
- Ranked #919 in 2024
- 288 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (436 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joelle leans strongly female. 14,256 people counted with this name were female (96.8%), compared with 472 male bearers (3.2%).
Popularity
Joelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joelle from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 3,210 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Joelle remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joelle 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 Joelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Joelles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Joelle, while South Dakota, New Mexico, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 288 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Joelle
Joelle is a feminine given name derived from the French form of the Hebrew name Joel, meaning "Yahweh is God." The name has its origins in ancient Israel and was initially used for boys. It gained popularity among Christians during the Middle Ages, with the feminine variation Joelle emerging in France.
The earliest recorded use of the name Joelle dates back to the 12th century. One of the first notable bearers was Joelle de Mayenne, a French noblewoman born around 1165. She was the daughter of Juhel de Mayenne, a powerful lord in medieval France.
In literature, Joelle appears as a character in the 14th-century French romance "Le Roman de la Rose." The author, Guillaume de Lorris, depicted Joelle as a beautiful and virtuous woman, contributing to the name's positive associations.
During the Renaissance, Joelle gained popularity among the French aristocracy. Joelle de Châtillon, born in 1492, was a renowned courtier and poet at the court of King Francis I of France. Her poetry collection, published in 1548, helped to further disseminate the name.
In the 17th century, Joelle de La Vallière, a French noblewoman born in 1644, became one of the most famous mistresses of King Louis XIV. Her relationship with the king was highly publicized and contributed to the continued use of the name among the French nobility.
Another notable bearer was Joelle Béthune, a 17th-century French painter and engraver. Born in 1670, she was one of the few women artists of her time to achieve recognition and success, with her works being collected by the French royal family.
In the 19th century, Joelle Judic, a French actress and singer, was a popular figure on the Parisian stage. Born in 1846, she starred in numerous operettas and helped to cement the name's association with the performing arts.
These examples illustrate the long and diverse history of the name Joelle, with its roots in ancient Hebrew tradition and its enduring presence among the French aristocracy, artists, and cultural figures throughout the centuries.
People
Joelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joelle 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
Joelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15,440 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joelle 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 22,199 US residents.
Is Joelle a common name?
We classify Joelle as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16,383 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Joelle was 2017, when 456 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joelle is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 14,735 people with the name Joelle, or 4.88 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,917 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 Joelle 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 Joelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joelle leans strongly female. 14,256 people counted with this name were female (96.8%), compared with 472 male bearers (3.2%). 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 Joelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joelle is White at 67.6%. The next largest groups are Black (13.5%) and Hispanic (8.4%). 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 Joelle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Joelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.6% (9,959 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 Joelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joelle a female name?
Yes, 96.8% of people registered as Joelle 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 Joelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joelle 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 Joelle 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 Joelle?
You can see how many Americans are named Joelle on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.