Joes
Of Hebrew origin, a masculine name interpreted as "He will add".
Name Census estimates that about 9 living Americans carry the first name Joes. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Joes today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joes births was 1949 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joes. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Joes. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
9
~ 1 in 38,083,815 Americans
Peak year
1949
7 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
1989 SSA rank
#8,503
Tracked since 1949
Census
Joes in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 313 people with the first name Joes, which placed it at #28,614 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
#28,614
National first-name rank
People counted
313
313 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
72.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joes
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joes is Hispanic at 72.5%. The next largest groups are White (17.9%) and Black (6.4%). 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 Joes 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 Joes at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino72.5% · 227
- White17.9% · 56
- Black or African American6.4% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 9
- Two or more races0.3% · 1
Popularity
Joes: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joes from the 1940s through to the 1980s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 7 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1940s peak, Joes remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joes 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 Joes 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 Joes
The name Joes is a variant of the more common Joseph, derived from the Hebrew name Yosef. Yosef comes from the Hebrew verb yasaf, meaning "to add" or "to increase." This name's origins can be traced back to the biblical figure Joseph, the son of Jacob and Rachel, whose story is told in the Book of Genesis.
One of the earliest recorded instances of this name appears in the Book of Genesis, which dates back to around the 6th century BC. Joseph was one of the twelve sons of Jacob and played a pivotal role in the narrative of the Israelites' journey to Egypt. His name was later adopted by various cultures and languages, leading to different spellings and variations.
In ancient Greek, the name Joseph was transliterated as Ioseph, while in Latin it became Iosephus. Over time, this name evolved into various forms, including Joses, Josue, and eventually, Joes. Although not as common as Joseph, the variant Joes has been used throughout history.
One of the earliest known individuals named Joes was Joes of Crete, a 1st-century Christian apostle mentioned in the New Testament. Another notable figure was Joes ben Joezer, a Jewish scholar who lived in the 2nd century BC and was a member of the Great Assembly, a council of sages that governed the Jewish community in ancient times.
In the medieval period, Joes appears to have been a relatively uncommon name. However, there are records of individuals bearing this name, such as Joes of Tyre, a 12th-century bishop and theologian who wrote extensively on the crusades.
During the Renaissance, one of the most notable individuals named Joes was Joes Justus Scaliger, a 16th-century French scholar and philosopher who made significant contributions to the fields of chronology and linguistics. Born in 1540 and dying in 1609, Scaliger's works helped establish the foundations of modern historical scholarship.
In the 19th century, Joes Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi, a Mexican writer and political satirist, was a prominent figure. Born in 1776 and dying in 1827, he is considered one of the pioneers of Mexican literature and played a significant role in the country's literary and intellectual development.
Finally, in the 20th century, Joes Antonio Olivé Salazar, a Mexican artist and muralist, gained recognition for his contributions to the Mexican muralism movement. Born in 1892 and dying in 1988, his works adorned public buildings and reflected the cultural and social themes of his time.
People
Joes + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joes 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
Joes: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joes?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joes 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 38,083,815 US residents.
Is Joes a common name?
We classify Joes as "Very Rare". It ranks above 25.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joes most popular?
The single biggest year for Joes was 1949, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joes is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joes in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 313 people with the name Joes, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,614 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 Joes 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 Joes?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joes leans strongly male. 274 people counted with this name were male (87.8%), compared with 38 female bearers (12.2%). 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 Joes?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joes is Hispanic at 72.5%. The next largest groups are White (17.9%) and Black (6.4%). 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 Joes most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Joes in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.5% (227 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 Joes in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joes a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joes 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 Joes still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joes 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 Joes 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 Joes as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Joes on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.