Joely
A feminine given name of English origin, a diminutive form of Josephine.
Name Census estimates that about 1,734 living Americans carry the first name Joely. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Joely today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joely births was 1969 (95 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joely. 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 Joely with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 197,667 Americans
Peak year
1969
95 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,935
Tracked since 1967
Census
Joely in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,766 people with the first name Joely, which placed it at #8,252 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
#8,252
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,766 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joely
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joely is White at 55.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (34.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (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 Joely 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 Joely at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.2% · 975
- Hispanic or Latino34.8% · 614
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 58
- Two or more races3.1% · 55
- Black or African American2.5% · 44
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 20
Popularity
Joely: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joely from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 592 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
Joely 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 Joely during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Joelys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Joely, while Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Colorado recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 46 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Joely
The name Joely has its origins in the Hebrew language, tracing back to ancient times. It is a diminutive form of the name Joel, which means "Yahweh is God" or "Jehovah is God" in Hebrew. The name Joel has biblical roots, appearing in the Old Testament as the name of a prophet who authored the Book of Joel.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Joely can be found in the 13th century, when it was documented as a variant spelling of the name Joel. During this period, the name was primarily used in religious contexts within Jewish and Christian communities.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Joely. One of the earliest recorded examples is Joely ben Judah, a 13th-century Jewish philosopher and scholar from Spain. Another prominent figure was Joely de Blancmesnil, a Norman nobleman who lived in the 12th century and played a significant role in the Norman conquest of England.
In the 16th century, Joely de Castellane was a French aristocrat and military leader who fought in the Italian Wars. Moving forward to the 18th century, Joely Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington, was a British naval officer and politician who served as First Lord of the Admiralty.
Another notable figure was Joely Bynner, an American poet and translator who lived from 1879 to 1958. Bynner was known for his works inspired by Eastern philosophy and his translations of Chinese poetry.
While the name Joely has roots in Hebrew and religious contexts, it has gained popularity as a given name across various cultures and regions over the centuries. These are just a few examples of the individuals who have carried this distinctive name throughout history.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Joely
People
Joely + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joely 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
Joely: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joely?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,734 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joely 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 197,667 US residents.
Is Joely a common name?
We classify Joely as "Rare". It ranks above 93.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,807 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joely most popular?
The single biggest year for Joely was 1969, when 95 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joely is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joely in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,766 people with the name Joely, or 0.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,252 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 Joely 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 Joely?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joely leans strongly female. 1,685 people counted with this name were female (95.3%), compared with 84 male bearers (4.7%). 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 Joely?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joely is White at 55.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (34.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (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 Joely most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Joely in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.2% (975 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 Joely in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joely a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joely 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 Joely still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joely 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 Joely 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 Joely as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Joely on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.