Jojo
A diminutive of Joseph or Josephine, of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add".
Name Census estimates that about 445 living Americans carry the first name Jojo. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 56.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Jojo today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jojo births was 2016 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jojo. 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 Jojo with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
445
~ 1 in 770,234 Americans
Peak year
2016
26 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,452
Tracked since 1957
Census
Jojo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,696 people with the first name Jojo, which placed it at #6,063 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
#6,063
National first-name rank
People counted
2.7K
2,696 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
29.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jojo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jojo is White at 29.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (27.5%) and Black (19.9%). 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 Jojo 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 Jojo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White29.3% · 790
- Asian and Pacific Islander27.5% · 741
- Black or African American19.9% · 537
- Hispanic or Latino17.7% · 477
- Two or more races4.2% · 112
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 39
Gender
Gender distribution for Jojo
Jojo is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 463 total registrations, 262 (56.6%) were male and 201 (43.4%) were female.
Jojo as a male name
- Ranked #7,452 in 2024
- 11 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (13 births)
Jojo as a female name
- Ranked #12,695 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (18 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jojo on both sides of the split. Of the 2,695 people counted with this name, 1,577 were male (58.5%) and 1,118 were female (41.5%).
Popularity
Jojo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jojo from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 114 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jojo remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jojo 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 Jojo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jojos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jojo
The given name Jojo has its origins in the Italian language and culture. It is a diminutive form of the name Joseph, which is derived from the Hebrew name Yosef, meaning "he will add" or "he will increase." The name Joseph is found in the Bible and has been popular among Christians and Jews for centuries.
Jojo emerged as a nickname or shortened version of Joseph in Italy during the late Middle Ages or Renaissance period, around the 14th to 16th centuries. It was likely used as an affectionate or informal way to address someone named Joseph, particularly among family members or close friends.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Jojo can be found in the works of the Italian Renaissance poet and scholar Giovanni Boccaccio, who lived from 1313 to 1375. In his famous work, The Decameron, Boccaccio includes a character named Jojo, suggesting that the name was in use during that time period.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Jojo. One example is Jojo the Ricebowl Painter, a Japanese artist who lived in the late 16th to early 17th century and was known for his intricate and detailed ceramic rice bowl paintings.
Another famous Jojo was Jojo Benavides, a Mexican revolutionary and military leader who fought alongside Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century. He was born in 1883 and died in 1942.
In the world of music, Jojo Benson was an American blues singer and guitarist who was active in the 1920s and 1930s. He was born in 1899 and is considered one of the pioneers of the Memphis blues style.
Jojo Rabbit, born Taika David Cohen in 1975, is a contemporary New Zealand filmmaker and actor best known for directing and starring in the 2019 satirical film Jojo Rabbit, for which he won an Academy Award.
Finally, Jojo Siwa, born in 2003, is an American dancer, singer, actress, and YouTube personality who rose to fame on the reality TV show Dance Moms and has since built a successful career aimed at a young audience.
These examples showcase the diverse backgrounds and eras in which the name Jojo has been used, spanning various cultures, regions, and fields of endeavor.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jojo
People
Jojo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jojo 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
Jojo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jojo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 445 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jojo 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 770,234 US residents.
Is Jojo a common name?
We classify Jojo as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 463 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jojo most popular?
The single biggest year for Jojo was 2016, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jojo is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jojo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,696 people with the name Jojo, or 0.89 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,063 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 Jojo 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 Jojo?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jojo on both sides of the split. Of the 2,695 people counted with this name, 1,577 were male (58.5%) and 1,118 were female (41.5%). 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 Jojo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jojo is White at 29.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (27.5%) and Black (19.9%). 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 Jojo most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jojo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 29.3% (790 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 Jojo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jojo a male name?
Yes, 56.6% of people registered as Jojo 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 Jojo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jojo 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 Jojo 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 have Jojo as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.