Joji
A masculine Japanese name meaning "one with second-born status".
Name Census estimates that about 52 living Americans carry the first name Joji. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Joji today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joji births was 2024 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joji. 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 Joji with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Joji. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
52
~ 1 in 6,591,430 Americans
Peak year
2024
10 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,983
Tracked since 1922
Census
Joji in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 509 people with the first name Joji, which placed it at #20,333 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
#20,333
National first-name rank
People counted
509
509 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
82.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joji
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joji is Asian/Pacific Islander at 82.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.0%) and Hispanic (4.7%). 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 Joji 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 Joji at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander82.3% · 419
- Two or more races9.0% · 46
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 24
- White3.1% · 16
- Black or African American0.8% · 4
Popularity
Joji: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joji from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 37 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joji 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 Joji 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 Joji
The name Joji has its origins in Japanese culture and is derived from the Japanese word "jo" meaning "respect" or "veneration." It is believed to have first emerged as a given name during the Heian period in Japan, which spanned from 794 to 1185 AD.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Joji can be found in the historical records of the Fujiwara clan, a powerful noble family that played a significant role in the imperial court during the Heian period. The name Joji was often given to sons born into the Fujiwara clan as a way to instill a sense of respect and honor.
In the realm of literature, the name Joji appears in several ancient Japanese texts, including the "Tale of Genji," a classic work of Japanese literature written in the early 11th century. One of the characters in the novel, a minor nobleman, bears the name Joji.
Throughout Japanese history, the name Joji has been associated with various notable figures. One such individual was Joji Sakurai (1858-1939), a renowned educator and founder of the Sakurai Institute, a prestigious school in Tokyo that played a crucial role in shaping Japan's modern education system.
Another famous bearer of the name Joji was Joji Yutenji (1872-1962), a Japanese Buddhist monk and artist who was renowned for his calligraphy and ink paintings. His works are celebrated for their spiritual depth and aesthetic beauty, and he is considered a master of the Zen Buddhist tradition.
In the 16th century, Joji Hirano (1546-1623) was a prominent samurai and military strategist who served under the legendary warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Hirano played a significant role in several key battles during the Sengoku period, a tumultuous era of civil war in Japan.
Another notable figure bearing the name Joji was Joji Fukushima (1891-1968), a Japanese businessman and industrialist. He founded the Fukushima Trading Company, which later became a major conglomerate known as the Fukushima Group, with interests spanning various industries including steel, chemicals, and real estate.
Lastly, Joji Sakurai (1858-1942) was a prominent Japanese diplomat and politician. He served as the Foreign Minister of Japan from 1924 to 1927 and played a crucial role in shaping Japan's foreign policy during the turbulent years leading up to World War II.
People
Joji + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joji 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
Joji: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joji?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 52 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joji 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 6,591,430 US residents.
Is Joji a common name?
We classify Joji as "Very Rare". It ranks above 54.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 58 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joji most popular?
The single biggest year for Joji was 2024, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joji is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joji in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 509 people with the name Joji, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,333 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 Joji 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 Joji?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Joji on both sides of the split. Of the 507 people counted with this name, 344 were male (67.9%) and 163 were female (32.1%). 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 Joji?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joji is Asian/Pacific Islander at 82.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.0%) and Hispanic (4.7%). 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 Joji most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Joji in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.3% (419 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 Joji in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joji a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joji 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 Joji still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joji 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 Joji 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 Joji?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.