Johanan
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "Yahweh has been gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 237 living Americans carry the first name Johanan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Johanan today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Johanan births was 2006 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Johanan. 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 Johanan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
237
~ 1 in 1,446,221 Americans
Peak year
2006
14 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2022 SSA rank
#10,292
Tracked since 1982
Census
Johanan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 311 people with the first name Johanan, which placed it at #28,739 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
#28,739
National first-name rank
People counted
311
311 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
55.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Johanan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Johanan is Hispanic at 55.6%. The next largest groups are White (19.9%) and Black (10.3%). 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 Johanan 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 Johanan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino55.6% · 173
- White19.9% · 62
- Black or African American10.3% · 32
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.3% · 32
- Two or more races3.9% · 12
Popularity
Johanan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Johanan from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 92 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
Johanan 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 Johanan 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 Johanan
The name Johanan has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is a masculine given name derived from the Hebrew words "Yah" (referring to God) and "hanan" (meaning "gracious" or "merciful"). The name can be translated as "God is gracious" or "Graced by God."
In the Hebrew Bible, Johanan is mentioned several times as the name of various individuals. One notable figure is Johanan, the son of Kareah, who is portrayed as a military leader during the time of the Babylonian captivity in the 6th century BCE. The Book of Jeremiah refers to him as a prominent figure who helped protect the remnant of Judah after the destruction of Jerusalem.
Another Johanan mentioned in the Bible is the high priest during the reign of King Artaxerxes I of Persia in the 5th century BCE. He is recorded in the Book of Nehemiah as one of the leaders who helped rebuild the walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile.
The name Johanan also appears in various ancient Jewish texts and historical records. One example is Johanan ben Zakkai, a renowned Jewish scholar and leader who lived during the 1st century CE. He is credited with preserving the teachings of the Oral Torah and establishing the Jewish academy in Yavneh after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Johanan or its variations:
1. Johanan HaSandlar (c. 199-279 CE), a Jewish scholar and Talmudic sage who lived in the Land of Israel during the Mishnaic and Talmudic eras.
2. Johanan bar Nappaha (c. 180-279 CE), a Jewish scholar and Talmudic sage from Babylon who was a contemporary of Johanan HaSandlar.
3. Johanan ben Zakai (c. 30-90 CE), a Jewish scholar and one of the most prominent figures in Jewish history, known for his leadership during the Great Revolt against the Romans and his role in establishing the academy at Yavneh.
4. Johanan Alemanno (c. 1435-1504), an Italian Jewish philosopher, scholar, and poet who lived during the Renaissance period and was influential in the development of Jewish mysticism.
5. Johanan Hasrohi (c. 200-270 CE), a Jewish Talmudic scholar and mystic who lived in the Land of Israel and is associated with the development of the Sefer Yetzirah, an early work of Jewish mysticism.
The name Johanan has been used across various cultures and time periods, reflecting its deep roots in the Hebrew tradition and its enduring significance as a name with a meaningful religious and historical background.
People
Johanan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Johanan 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
Johanan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Johanan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 237 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Johanan 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 1,446,221 US residents.
Is Johanan a common name?
We classify Johanan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 240 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Johanan most popular?
The single biggest year for Johanan was 2006, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Johanan is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Johanan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 311 people with the name Johanan, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,739 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 Johanan 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 Johanan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Johanan leans strongly male. 285 people counted with this name were male (90.8%), compared with 29 female bearers (9.2%). 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 Johanan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Johanan is Hispanic at 55.6%. The next largest groups are White (19.9%) and Black (10.3%). 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 Johanan most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Johanan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.6% (173 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 Johanan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Johanan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Johanan 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 Johanan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Johanan 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 Johanan 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 common is the name Johanan?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Johanan on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.