Joleen
A feminine name of unknown origin, potentially a variation of Jolene.
Name Census estimates that about 5,450 living Americans carry the first name Joleen. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Joleen today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joleen births was 1974 (187 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joleen. 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 Joleen with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.5K
~ 1 in 62,891 Americans
Peak year
1974
187 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,373
Tracked since 1925
Census
Joleen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,710 people with the first name Joleen, which placed it at #3,586 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
#3,586
National first-name rank
People counted
5.7K
5,710 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joleen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joleen is White at 77.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.1%). 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 Joleen 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 Joleen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.6% · 4,432
- Hispanic or Latino9.4% · 538
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.1% · 290
- Two or more races3.6% · 204
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 132
- Black or African American2.0% · 114
Popularity
Joleen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joleen from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 1,302 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joleen 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 Joleen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Joleens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 28 states and territories. California, Iowa, Minnesota recorded the most babies named Joleen, while South Dakota, New Mexico, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 124 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Joleen
The given name Joleen has its roots in the English language, derived from the combination of the French name Jolene and the English name Joleen. The name first appeared in the early 20th century, gaining popularity in the United States and other English-speaking countries.
Jolene is believed to have originated from the French word "joli," meaning "pretty" or "lovely." It was a popular name in France during the Middle Ages and later spread to other parts of Europe and the English-speaking world. Joleen, on the other hand, is a variation of the name Jolene, incorporating the English suffix "-een," which was commonly used to create diminutive forms of names.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Joleen can be found in the 1920s, although it remained relatively uncommon until the mid-20th century. Some notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Joleen include:
1. Joleen Baughman (1926-2008), an American actress and model who appeared in several films and television shows during the 1950s and 1960s.
2. Joleen Hausfeld (born 1950), an American author and educator known for her work in children's literature.
3. Joleen Teed (born 1962), a Canadian playwright and screenwriter who has written for various television shows and films.
4. Joleen Diaz (born 1972), an American artist and photographer acclaimed for her portraits and landscape photography.
5. Joleen Crickard (born 1978), an American basketball coach and former player who won multiple championships during her college and professional career.
While the name Joleen does not have any direct historical references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its roots can be traced back to the French and English languages, reflecting the cultural exchange and influences between these two linguistic traditions.
People
Joleen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joleen 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
Joleen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joleen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,450 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joleen 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 62,891 US residents.
Is Joleen a common name?
We classify Joleen as "Rare". It ranks above 96.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,649 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joleen most popular?
The single biggest year for Joleen was 1974, when 187 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joleen is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joleen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,710 people with the name Joleen, or 1.89 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,586 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 Joleen 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 Joleen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joleen appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,709 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Joleen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joleen is White at 77.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.1%). 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 Joleen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Joleen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.6% (4,432 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 Joleen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joleen a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joleen 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 Joleen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joleen 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 Joleen 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 share the name Joleen?
Find out how many Americans are named Joleen on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.