Jovita
A feminine Spanish name related to Jupiter, the bringer of joy.
Name Census estimates that about 1,869 living Americans carry the first name Jovita. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jovita today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jovita births was 1930 (62 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jovita. 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 Jovita with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.9K
~ 1 in 183,389 Americans
Peak year
1930
62 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
1941 SSA rank
#3,771
Tracked since 1903
Census
Jovita in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,707 people with the first name Jovita, which placed it at #3,209 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
#3,209
National first-name rank
People counted
6.7K
6,707 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
73.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jovita
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jovita is Hispanic at 73.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (15.3%) and Black (5.7%). 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 Jovita 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 Jovita at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino73.0% · 4,899
- Asian and Pacific Islander15.3% · 1,024
- Black or African American5.7% · 383
- White4.8% · 319
- Two or more races0.7% · 45
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 37
Gender
Gender distribution for Jovita
Out of the 3,289 babies given the name Jovita since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Jovita as a male name
- Ranked #3,771 in 1941
- 5 male births in 1941
- Peak: 1941 (5 births)
Jovita as a female name
- Ranked #11,548 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1930 (62 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jovita appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,712 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Jovita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jovita from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 442 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jovita 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 Jovita during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jovitas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Texas, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Jovita, while Georgia, Arizona, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 303 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jovita
The name Jovita is a feminine given name with origins in the Spanish and Portuguese languages. It is a variant of the Latin name Jovita, which was derived from the Roman name Jovius, meaning "of Jupiter" or "relating to Jupiter." Jupiter was the supreme deity in ancient Roman mythology, considered the god of sky and thunder.
The name Jovita has been in use since ancient times, particularly in regions with strong Roman cultural influence, such as the Iberian Peninsula and parts of Italy. It gained popularity during the spread of Christianity, as it was adopted by several early Christian martyrs and saints.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jovita can be found in the 4th century, when it was borne by Saint Jovita, a Christian martyr who was killed during the Diocletian persecution in Brescia, Italy. Another early figure named Jovita was Saint Jovita of Palermo, who lived in the 5th century and is revered as the patron saint of Palermo, Sicily.
Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the name Jovita maintained a presence in various regions of Europe, particularly in the Iberian Peninsula and Italy. Notable figures with this name include Jovita Díaz Muñoz (1917-2020), a Spanish teacher and writer who lived to be one of the oldest people in Spain.
In the 19th century, the name gained prominence in Latin American countries, particularly in Mexico and Central America. One prominent bearer was Jovita Idar (1885-1946), a Mexican-American journalist and civil rights activist who played a significant role in the Mexican-American community in Texas.
Another notable figure was Jovita Carranza (1949-2021), an American businesswoman and government official who served as the Administrator of the Small Business Administration under President Donald Trump from 2019 to 2021.
Other historical figures with the name Jovita include Jovita Fuentes (1920-1998), a Mexican-American author and educator known for her contributions to Chicano literature, and Jovita Idár (1885-1946), a Mexican-American journalist and activist who fought for civil rights and women's rights in Texas.
People
Jovita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jovita 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
Jovita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jovita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,869 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jovita 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 183,389 US residents.
Is Jovita a common name?
We classify Jovita as "Rare". It ranks above 93.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,289 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jovita most popular?
The single biggest year for Jovita was 1930, when 62 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jovita is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jovita in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,707 people with the name Jovita, or 2.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,209 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 Jovita 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 Jovita?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jovita appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,712 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Jovita?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jovita is Hispanic at 73.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (15.3%) and Black (5.7%). 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 Jovita most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Jovita in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.0% (4,899 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 Jovita in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jovita a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Jovita 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 Jovita still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jovita 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 Jovita 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 Jovita?
You can see how many people share the name Jovita on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.