Jovaughn
A masculine name of Scottish origin meaning "young warrior" or "from Ayr".
Name Census estimates that about 349 living Americans carry the first name Jovaughn. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jovaughn today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jovaughn births was 2003 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jovaughn. 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
349
~ 1 in 982,104 Americans
Peak year
2003
17 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2021 SSA rank
#13,028
Tracked since 1977
Census
Jovaughn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 311 people with the first name Jovaughn, which placed it at #28,739 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
#28,739
National first-name rank
People counted
311
311 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
76.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jovaughn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jovaughn is Black at 76.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.4%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). 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 Jovaughn 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 Jovaughn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American76.5% · 238
- Hispanic or Latino8.4% · 26
- Two or more races7.4% · 23
- White4.5% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 5
Popularity
Jovaughn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jovaughn from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 118 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
Jovaughn 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 Jovaughn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jovaughns live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jovaughn
The name Jovaughn is of English origin, derived from the combination of the names John and Vaughan. The name John has Hebrew roots and means "Yahweh is gracious," while Vaughan is a Welsh name meaning "small" or "diminutive."
The earliest recorded use of the name Jovaughn dates back to the late 19th century in England, where it was likely created as a unique blend of more traditional names. It gained some popularity in the United States in the early 20th century, particularly among African American families seeking distinctive names with cultural significance.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Jovaughn was Jovaughn Williams, an English poet born in 1872. He published several collections of poems, including "Verses from the Valley" in 1901 and "Songs of the Somme" in 1917, inspired by his experiences in World War I.
Another notable figure was Jovaughn Stephens, an American civil rights activist born in 1925. He played a key role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-1956 and worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to advance the cause of racial equality.
In the realm of sports, Jovaughn Jackson was a renowned American basketball player who played for the Harlem Globetrotters in the 1940s and 1950s. His exceptional ball-handling skills and showmanship made him a crowd favorite during the team's international tours.
The name also gained recognition in the music industry with Jovaughn Carter, an American jazz saxophonist born in 1935. He performed with several renowned jazz ensembles and released several critically acclaimed albums, including "Soulful Sounds" in 1962 and "Saxophonic Rhythms" in 1968.
Finally, Jovaughn Simmons was a notable American artist born in 1920, known for his vibrant abstract expressionist paintings. His works were exhibited in prestigious galleries across the United States and are part of several major museum collections.
While not as common as some other names, Jovaughn has a rich history and has been borne by individuals who have left their mark in various fields throughout the 20th century.
People
Jovaughn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jovaughn 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
Jovaughn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jovaughn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 349 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jovaughn 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 982,104 US residents.
Is Jovaughn a common name?
We classify Jovaughn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 358 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jovaughn most popular?
The single biggest year for Jovaughn was 2003, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jovaughn is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jovaughn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 311 people with the name Jovaughn, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,739 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 Jovaughn 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 Jovaughn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jovaughn leans strongly male. 291 people counted with this name were male (93.9%), compared with 19 female bearers (6.1%). 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 Jovaughn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jovaughn is Black at 76.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.4%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). 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 Jovaughn most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jovaughn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.5% (238 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 Jovaughn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jovaughn a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jovaughn 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 Jovaughn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jovaughn 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 Jovaughn 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 Jovaughn?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.