Joy
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "gladness" or "delight".
Name Census estimates that about 97,831 living Americans carry the first name Joy. It sits at #442 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (98.2% of registrations). The average person named Joy today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joy births was 1957 (2,945 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joy. 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.
Key insights
- • Although Joy is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 2,602 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
98K
~ 1 in 3,504 Americans
Peak year
1957
2,945 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
2024 SSA rank
#442
Tracked since 1883
Gender
Gender distribution for Joy
Joy leans heavily female at 98.2% of total registrations, but 2,602 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Joy as a male name
- Ranked #4,952 in 2024
- 20 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1922 (66 births)
Joy as a female name
- Ranked #442 in 2024
- 702 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1957 (2,929 births)
Popularity
Joy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joy from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 24,701 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joy 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 Joy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Joys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Joy, while Vermont, Alaska, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,682 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Joy
The name Joy is derived from the Middle English word "joye", which itself stems from the Old French "joie" and ultimately from the Latin "gaudium", meaning "gladness" or "delight". It emerged as a given name in the 16th century, likely inspired by the virtue of joy or joyfulness.
Joy has its roots in the Christian tradition, where it is considered one of the seven heavenly virtues and is often associated with the spiritual joy found through faith and devotion. The name may have been used to express the joy felt by parents upon the birth of a child or to represent their wish for the child to lead a joyful life.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Joy can be found in the 17th century. Joy Jeffries (1615-1685) was an English Puritan minister who served as a chaplain during the English Civil War. Another notable figure from this era was Joy Banger (1642-1705), an English writer and translator.
In the 18th century, Joy Lyman (1729-1828) was an American Revolutionary War soldier and one of the last surviving veterans of the conflict. Joy Adamson (1910-1980), a renowned conservationist and author, is best known for her work with lions in Kenya and her book "Born Free".
The 20th century saw the name Joy gain increased popularity. Joy Bright Hancock (1898-1986) was an American composer and pianist, while Joy Davidman (1915-1960) was a writer and poet who became the wife of C.S. Lewis. Joy Mukherjee (1939-2012) was a popular Indian actor who appeared in numerous Bollywood films.
Other notable individuals with the name Joy include Joy Williams (born 1944), an American novelist and short story writer, and Joy Harjo (born 1951), a renowned Native American poet and musician who served as the U.S. Poet Laureate from 2019 to 2022.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Joy
People
Joy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joy 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
Joy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 97,831 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joy 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 3,504 US residents.
Is Joy a common name?
We classify Joy as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 142,535 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joy most popular?
The single biggest year for Joy was 1957, when 2,945 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joy is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Joy a female name?
Yes, 98.2% of people registered as Joy 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.
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.