Joram
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "the Lord is exalted".
Name Census estimates that about 276 living Americans carry the first name Joram. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Joram today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joram births was 2000 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joram. 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 Joram with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
276
~ 1 in 1,241,864 Americans
Peak year
2000
14 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,985
Tracked since 1982
Census
Joram in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 373 people with the first name Joram, which placed it at #25,428 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
#25,428
National first-name rank
People counted
373
373 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
35.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joram
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joram is Hispanic at 35.9%. The next largest groups are White (30.0%) and Black (22.8%). 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 Joram 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 Joram at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino35.9% · 134
- White30.0% · 112
- Black or African American22.8% · 85
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.6% · 32
- Two or more races1.6% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 4
Popularity
Joram: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joram from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 89 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Joram remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joram 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 Joram 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 Joram
The name Joram has its origins in ancient Hebrew, where it was derived from the root words "yaram" meaning "to exalt" or "to lift up" and "Yahweh" which is the name of the God of Israel. It is found in the Old Testament of the Bible, referring to several individuals.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name Joram was a king of the northern kingdom of Israel, who reigned during the 9th century BCE. He was the son of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, and his reign is described in the Books of Kings. Another biblical figure named Joram was the king of the southern kingdom of Judah during the same period, and was the son of King Jehoshaphat.
The name Joram has been spelled in various ways throughout history, including Joram, Jehoram, and Yoram. In ancient texts, it appears in Hebrew as יֹרָם or יְהֹרָם.
Outside of the Bible, one of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Joram was Joram ben Aharon, a Jewish scholar and poet who lived in Palestine during the 6th century CE. He is known for his poetic works in Hebrew and Aramaic.
In the Middle Ages, the name Joram appeared in various European regions, although it was relatively uncommon. One notable bearer was Joram of Auxerre, a French monk and scholar who lived in the 9th century and wrote works on theology and philosophy.
During the Renaissance period, the name Joram gained some popularity in certain parts of Europe, particularly in areas with strong Protestant traditions. One example is Joram Rugel, a German Protestant theologian and reformer who lived in the 16th century and was involved in the Reformation movement.
In more recent history, the name Joram has been used by individuals from various backgrounds and cultures. Some notable examples include Joram van Klaveren, a Dutch politician and former member of the Dutch Parliament, and Joram Nyathi, a Zimbabwean writer and journalist.
Overall, the name Joram has a rich history spanning centuries and cultures, with its roots firmly planted in ancient Hebrew and biblical traditions. While not a widely popular name today, it has been borne by notable figures throughout history, from kings and religious scholars to writers and politicians.
People
Joram + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joram 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
Joram: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joram?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 276 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joram 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 1,241,864 US residents.
Is Joram a common name?
We classify Joram as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 280 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joram most popular?
The single biggest year for Joram was 2000, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joram is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joram in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 373 people with the name Joram, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,428 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 Joram 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 Joram?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joram appears almost entirely male. Of the 370 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Joram?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joram is Hispanic at 35.9%. The next largest groups are White (30.0%) and Black (22.8%). 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 Joram most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Joram in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.9% (134 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 Joram in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joram a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joram 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 Joram still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joram 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 Joram 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 Joram?
Want to know how many Americans are named Joram? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.