Joetta
A feminine name of English origin meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 2,178 living Americans carry the first name Joetta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Joetta today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joetta births was 1954 (111 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joetta. 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
2.2K
~ 1 in 157,371 Americans
Peak year
1954
111 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,694
Tracked since 1913
Census
Joetta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,713 people with the first name Joetta, which placed it at #6,043 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
#6,043
National first-name rank
People counted
2.7K
2,713 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joetta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joetta is White at 74.1%. The next largest groups are Black (17.7%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Joetta 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 Joetta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.1% · 2,010
- Black or African American17.7% · 481
- Two or more races3.4% · 93
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 69
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 49
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 11
Popularity
Joetta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joetta from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 952 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joetta 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 Joetta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Joettas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio recorded the most babies named Joetta, while North Carolina, Colorado, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 77 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Joetta
The name Joetta is a feminine given name of American origin, derived from the combination of the names Josephine and Etta. It emerged in the late 19th century, during a period when creative name blending became popular in the United States.
Joetta can be considered a diminutive form of Josephine, which itself is the French version of the Hebrew name Yosef, meaning "he will add" or "God will increase." The second part, Etta, is a shortened form of names like Henrietta or Annette. This unique blend of names reflects the diversity of cultural influences that shaped American naming traditions.
While Joetta is not directly referenced in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its components, such as Josephine and its masculine counterpart Joseph, have rich historical and biblical significance. The name Joseph was borne by the son of Jacob in the Old Testament, who played a crucial role in the narrative of the Israelites in Egypt.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Joetta was Joetta Callier, an American blues singer and songwriter born in 1924 in Tennessee. She was known for her distinctive vocals and her collaborations with artists like B.B. King.
Another notable figure was Joetta Clark Diggs (1925-1988), an American activist and educator who played a pivotal role in desegregating schools in Prince Edward County, Virginia, during the Civil Rights Movement.
In the world of sports, Joetta Clark Diggs (born 1962) is a former American track and field athlete who specialized in middle-distance running. She won numerous medals in international competitions, including four Olympic medals (two gold and two bronze) between 1988 and 2000.
Joetta Norban (born 1927) was an American actress and singer who appeared in several Broadway musicals and television shows in the 1950s and 1960s. She is particularly remembered for her role in the original Broadway production of "West Side Story."
Joetta Hawkins (born 1979) is a contemporary American figure, known for her work as a motivational speaker and author. Her book "Why Knock Rock?" encourages readers to embrace their uniqueness and pursue their dreams.
While these are just a few examples, the name Joetta has been borne by individuals from various walks of life throughout history, each contributing to its enduring legacy and significance in American culture.
People
Joetta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joetta 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
Joetta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joetta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,178 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joetta 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 157,371 US residents.
Is Joetta a common name?
We classify Joetta as "Rare". It ranks above 94% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,553 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joetta most popular?
The single biggest year for Joetta was 1954, when 111 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joetta is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joetta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,713 people with the name Joetta, or 0.90 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,043 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 Joetta 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 Joetta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joetta appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,707 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Joetta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joetta is White at 74.1%. The next largest groups are Black (17.7%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Joetta most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Joetta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.1% (2,010 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 Joetta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joetta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joetta 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 Joetta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joetta 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 Joetta 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 named Joetta?
Want to know how many people share the name Joetta? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.