Joh
Joh is a masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "Jehovah is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 370 living Americans carry the first name Joh. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Joh today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joh births was 1982 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joh. 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
370
~ 1 in 926,363 Americans
Peak year
1982
21 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
1990 SSA rank
#7,582
Tracked since 1949
Popularity
Joh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joh from the 1940s through to the 1990s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 151 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joh 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 Joh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Johs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Joh
The name Joh is a shortened form of the masculine given name John, which has its origins in the Hebrew name Yohanan or Yochanan. This name can be traced back to the Old Testament and means "Yahweh is gracious" or "Yahweh has been merciful."
The name John is derived from the ancient Greek form Ioannes, which was a translation of the Hebrew name. It gained widespread popularity during the Christian era due to its association with John the Baptist and John the Apostle, two prominent figures in the New Testament.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Joh can be found in medieval European documents, where it was often used as a shortened form of John. This variant was particularly common in Germanic and Scandinavian regions, where names were often shortened for convenience or familiarity.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Joh. One of the earliest was Joh Amos Comenius (1592-1670), a Czech philosopher, pedagogue, and theologian who is considered the father of modern education.
Another prominent figure was Joh Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), the renowned German composer and organist who composed some of the most celebrated works in the Baroque era, including the Brandenburg Concertos and the St. Matthew Passion.
In the realm of literature, Joh Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was a German writer and statesman who is widely regarded as one of the greatest figures in German literature. His most famous works include the tragic play "Faust" and the bildungsroman "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship."
In the field of science, Joh Kepler (1571-1630) was a German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer who made significant contributions to the Scientific Revolution. He is best known for his laws of planetary motion and his support for the heliocentric model of the solar system.
Lastly, Joh Locke (1632-1704) was an English philosopher and physician who is widely regarded as one of the most influential thinkers of the Enlightenment period. His works on empiricism, political philosophy, and religious toleration had a profound impact on the development of modern Western thought.
People
Joh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joh 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
Joh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 370 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joh 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 926,363 US residents.
Is Joh a common name?
We classify Joh as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 407 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joh most popular?
The single biggest year for Joh was 1982, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joh is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Joh a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joh 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.
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.