Joelly
A unique combination of Joelle and Kelly, meaning "joyful, youthful warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 174 living Americans carry the first name Joelly. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Joelly today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joelly births was 2009 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joelly. 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
174
~ 1 in 1,969,853 Americans
Peak year
2009
12 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2023 SSA rank
#14,194
Tracked since 1996
Census
Joelly in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 210 people with the first name Joelly, which placed it at #37,260 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
#37,260
National first-name rank
People counted
210
210 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
80.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joelly
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joelly is Hispanic at 80.0%. The next largest groups are White (12.9%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Joelly 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 Joelly at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino80.0% · 168
- White12.9% · 27
- Two or more races3.3% · 7
- Black or African American2.9% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 1
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Popularity
Joelly: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joelly from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 72 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joelly 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 Joelly during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Joelly
The name Joelly is a variant of the name Joelle, which has its roots in the French language. It is derived from the Hebrew name Yoel, meaning "Yahweh is God." The name gained popularity in France during the Middle Ages and was later adopted in other parts of Europe.
Joelly is a feminine form of the name Joel, which has biblical origins. In the Old Testament, Joel was a prophet of ancient Israel who lived in the 5th century BCE. His book in the Hebrew Bible warns of a great locust plague and calls for repentance.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Joelly can be found in medieval French records from the 13th century. During this time, the name was often spelled as "Joele" or "Joielle."
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Joelly or its variants:
1. Joelly De Blasi (born 1963) is an American artist and sculptor known for her large-scale public installations.
2. Joelly Navarrete (born 1998) is a Venezuelan actress and model who has appeared in several telenovelas.
3. Joelly Richardson (born 1965) is a British actress and the daughter of renowned actress Vanessa Redgrave. She has starred in films such as "Nip/Tuck" and "The Patriot."
4. Joelly Garcia (born 1985) is a Mexican singer and songwriter who has released several successful albums.
5. Joelly Rebello (born 1985) is an Indian model and actress who has appeared in various Bollywood films and television shows.
While the name Joelly is not as common as its variants, it has maintained a presence throughout history, particularly in French-speaking regions and countries with strong cultural ties to France.
People
Joelly + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joelly 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
Joelly: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joelly?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 174 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joelly 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 1,969,853 US residents.
Is Joelly a common name?
We classify Joelly as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 176 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joelly most popular?
The single biggest year for Joelly was 2009, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joelly is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joelly in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 210 people with the name Joelly, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #37,260 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 Joelly 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 Joelly?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joelly leans strongly female. 197 people counted with this name were female (96.1%), compared with 8 male bearers (3.9%). 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 Joelly?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joelly is Hispanic at 80.0%. The next largest groups are White (12.9%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Joelly most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Joelly in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.0% (168 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 Joelly in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joelly a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joelly 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 Joelly still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joelly 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 Joelly 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 have the name Joelly?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Joelly on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.