Johanna
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 39,245 living Americans carry the first name Johanna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Johanna today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Johanna births was 1984 (928 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Johanna. 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 Johanna with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Johanna is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 129 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
39K
~ 1 in 8,734 Americans
Peak year
1984
928 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2008 SSA rank
#848
Tracked since 1880
Census
Johanna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 49,746 people with the first name Johanna, which placed it at #905 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
#905
National first-name rank
People counted
50K
49,746 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
16.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
51.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Johanna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Johanna is White at 51.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (38.0%) and Black (4.0%). 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 Johanna 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 Johanna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White51.3% · 25,512
- Hispanic or Latino38.0% · 18,891
- Black or African American4.0% · 1,996
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 1,675
- Two or more races2.7% · 1,368
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 304
Gender
Gender distribution for Johanna
Out of the 54,062 babies given the name Johanna since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Johanna as a male name
- Ranked #13,500 in 2008
- 5 male births in 2008
- Peak: 1985 (14 births)
Johanna as a female name
- Ranked #848 in 2024
- 318 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1984 (918 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Johanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 49,738 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Johanna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Johanna from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 8,240 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
Johanna 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 Johanna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Johannas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Johanna, while Delaware, Mississippi, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 901 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Johanna
The name Johanna has its origins in the Hebrew language, derived from the name Yohanan, which means "Yahweh is gracious." It is a feminine form of the name John, and its earliest recorded use dates back to the 12th century in Europe.
The name gained popularity in various regions, including Germany, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia, where it was widely used. In Germany, the name was sometimes written as Johanne or Johanna, while in the Netherlands, it was often spelled as Janna.
In the Bible, the name Johanna is mentioned as one of the women who followed Jesus and provided for him out of their resources (Luke 8:3). This biblical reference contributed to the name's widespread adoption among Christian communities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Johanna is found in the 12th-century writer and philosopher Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), who was also known as Johanna.
In the 16th century, Johanna I (1479-1555) was the Queen of Castile and Aragon, ruling over a unified Spain. Her reign marked a significant period in Spanish history.
Johanna Spyri (1827-1901) was a Swiss author best known for her beloved children's novel "Heidi," which has been translated into numerous languages and adapted for various media formats.
Johanna Brandt (1876-1964) was a South African botanist and educator who made significant contributions to the study of plant taxonomy and was instrumental in establishing the botanical gardens at the University of Cape Town.
Johanna Stegen (1876-1957) was a Norwegian-American artist and illustrator known for her intricate etchings and woodcuts depicting scenes from rural Norway and the American West.
Throughout history, the name Johanna has been carried by numerous influential women in various fields, including literature, art, science, and politics, reflecting its enduring popularity and cultural significance across different regions and time periods.
People
Johanna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Johanna 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
Johanna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Johanna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 39,245 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Johanna 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 8,734 US residents.
Is Johanna a common name?
We classify Johanna as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 54,062 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Johanna most popular?
The single biggest year for Johanna was 1984, when 928 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Johanna is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Johanna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 49,746 people with the name Johanna, or 16.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #905 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 Johanna 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 Johanna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Johanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 49,738 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Johanna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Johanna is White at 51.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (38.0%) and Black (4.0%). 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 Johanna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Johanna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.3% (25,512 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 Johanna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Johanna a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Johanna 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 Johanna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Johanna 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 Johanna 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 called Johanna?
Find out how many Americans are named Johanna on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.