Joniah
Elegant name with Biblical roots from the Hebrew name "Yonah".
Name Census estimates that about 135 living Americans carry the first name Joniah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Joniah today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joniah births was 2003 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joniah. 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.
People living today
135
~ 1 in 2,538,921 Americans
Peak year
2003
12 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,309
Tracked since 1999
Popularity
Joniah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joniah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 72 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joniah 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 Joniah 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 Joniah
The name Joniah is a Hebrew name derived from the biblical name Jonah, which means "dove" in Hebrew. The name Jonah appears in the Old Testament of the Bible, specifically in the Book of Jonah, which tells the story of the prophet Jonah who was swallowed by a giant fish after trying to evade God's command to preach to the people of Nineveh.
The name Joniah is a variant spelling of Jonah, likely originating in the Middle Ages or Renaissance period when different spellings and variations of biblical names became more common. The addition of the "iah" suffix is reminiscent of other Hebrew names like Jeremiah or Isaiah, and may have been intended to emphasize the name's Hebrew roots.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Joniah can be found in the 16th century, in the writings of the English theologian and historian Thomas Fuller (1608-1661). In his work "The Church History of Britain," Fuller mentions a man named Joniah who was a priest during the reign of King Henry VIII.
Another notable figure with the name Joniah was Joniah Gwilt (1766-1846), an English architect and writer who authored several influential works on architecture, including "Rudiments of Architecture" and "Encyclopaedia of Architecture."
In the 19th century, Joniah Humphreys (1809-1887) was a Welsh Congregationalist minister and author who published several religious works, including "Sermons on the Parables of Our Lord" and "The Doctrine of the Lord's Supper."
Joniah Jansen (1870-1945) was a Dutch painter and illustrator known for his landscapes and portraits. He studied at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam and achieved recognition for his work during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Lastly, Joniah Whittier (1884-1968) was an American author and historian who wrote extensively about the history of New England and the American colonial period. Her works include "The Life and Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier" and "The Whittiers: A Genealogical History."
People
Joniah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joniah 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
Joniah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joniah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 135 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joniah 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 2,538,921 US residents.
Is Joniah a common name?
We classify Joniah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 137 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joniah most popular?
The single biggest year for Joniah was 2003, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joniah is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Joniah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joniah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joniah 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 Joniah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joniah 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 Joniah 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many Americans are named Joniah?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Joniah at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.