Johney
A masculine name derived from the Hebrew name Johanan meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 592 living Americans carry the first name Johney. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Johney today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Johney births was 1919 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Johney. 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
- • The typical person named Johney is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Johneys were born before 1970.
People living today
592
~ 1 in 578,977 Americans
Peak year
1919
45 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
2006 SSA rank
#4,564
Tracked since 1888
Census
Johney in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 570 people with the first name Johney, which placed it at #18,805 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
#18,805
National first-name rank
People counted
570
570 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Johney
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Johney is White at 55.6%. The next largest groups are Black (21.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.9%). 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 Johney 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 Johney at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.6% · 317
- Black or African American21.2% · 121
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.9% · 51
- Hispanic or Latino6.3% · 36
- Two or more races6.0% · 34
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Johney
Out of the 1,525 babies given the name Johney since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Johney as a male name
- Ranked #11,291 in 2006
- 6 male births in 2006
- Peak: 1919 (45 births)
Johney as a female name
- Ranked #4,564 in 1926
- 6 female births in 1926
- Peak: 1926 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Johney leans strongly male. 529 people counted with this name were male (93.8%), compared with 35 female bearers (6.2%).
Popularity
Johney: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Johney from the 1880s through to the 2000s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 301 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Johney 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 Johney during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Johneys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Mississippi, Texas, South Carolina recorded the most babies named Johney, while Louisiana, California, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Johney
The name Johney is an English variant of the Hebrew name John, which is derived from the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "Graced by God" or "Yahweh is gracious." The name Johney first appeared in England during the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century.
Johney is a diminutive form of John, which was a popular name among English Christians due to its biblical origins. The name is rooted in the New Testament and is associated with John the Baptist and John the Apostle, two prominent figures in the Christian faith.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Johney can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of landholdings and properties in England, commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name is also mentioned in various medieval texts and records, such as the Pipe Rolls of Henry II from the late 12th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Johney. One of the earliest was Johney of Gaunt (c. 1340-1399), an English prince and son of King Edward III. He was a prominent military leader during the Hundred Years' War and played a significant role in the political affairs of England.
Another historical figure named Johney was Johney Wycliffe (c. 1320-1384), an English scholar and theologian who is considered a forerunner of the Protestant Reformation. He advocated for translating the Bible into the vernacular and challenged the authority of the Catholic Church.
In the 16th century, Johney Knox (c. 1514-1572) was a Scottish minister and a leader of the Reformation in Scotland. He played a crucial role in establishing Presbyterianism as the national religion of Scotland and is revered as one of the founders of the Presbyterian Church.
During the English Civil War, Johney Hampden (1594-1643) was a prominent parliamentarian and a leading figure in the opposition against King Charles I. He is remembered for his principled stand against the Ship Money tax and his role in the early stages of the conflict.
In the 18th century, Johney Wesley (1703-1791) was an Anglican cleric and a central figure in the Methodist movement. He founded the Methodist Church and is renowned for his extensive preaching and efforts to spread Christian teachings throughout England and beyond.
People
Johney + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Johney 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
Johney: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Johney?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 592 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Johney 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 578,977 US residents.
Is Johney a common name?
We classify Johney as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,525 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Johney most popular?
The single biggest year for Johney was 1919, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Johney is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Johney in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 570 people with the name Johney, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,805 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 Johney 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 Johney?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Johney leans strongly male. 529 people counted with this name were male (93.8%), compared with 35 female bearers (6.2%). 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 Johney?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Johney is White at 55.6%. The next largest groups are Black (21.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.9%). 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 Johney most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Johney in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.6% (317 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 Johney in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Johney a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Johney 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 Johney still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Johney 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 Johney 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 Americans are named Johney?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Johney at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.