Joya
A feminine name of Persian origin meaning "jewel" or "precious".
Name Census estimates that about 1,630 living Americans carry the first name Joya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Joya today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joya births was 1990 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joya. 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 Joya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 210,279 Americans
Peak year
1990
43 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,051
Tracked since 1942
Census
Joya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,685 people with the first name Joya, which placed it at #8,580 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
#8,580
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,685 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
43.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joya is Black at 43.0%. The next largest groups are White (36.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.4%). 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 Joya 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 Joya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American43.0% · 724
- White36.2% · 610
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.4% · 158
- Two or more races6.5% · 109
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 78
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 6
Popularity
Joya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joya from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 290 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Joya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joya 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 Joya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Joyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, New York, Michigan recorded the most babies named Joya, while New Jersey, Georgia, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Joya
The name Joya has its origins in the Persian language, where it means "a stream" or "a small river." The name gained popularity during the Islamic Golden Age, which spanned from the 8th to the 13th centuries, when Persian culture and literature flourished across the Middle East and Central Asia.
In ancient Persian literature, the word "joya" was used to describe the gentle flow of water, often associated with tranquility, beauty, and serenity. The name likely took on a symbolic meaning, representing the qualities of grace, purity, and harmony.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Joya can be found in the "Shahnameh," an epic poem written by the renowned Persian poet Ferdowsi in the late 10th century. In the poem, a minor character bears the name Joya, though little is known about her significance.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have carried the name Joya. In the 12th century, Joya Al-Mawsili was a celebrated Persian musician and composer who lived in Mosul, Iraq. Her contributions to the development of classical Arabic music are still recognized and celebrated today.
In the 16th century, Joya Thillayeva was a prominent Uzbek poet and scholar who wrote extensively on topics ranging from philosophy to spirituality. Her works were influential in shaping the literary landscape of Central Asia during that period.
During the 19th century, Joya Kamal was an influential Afghan educator and women's rights activist. She established one of the first schools for girls in Kabul and played a crucial role in promoting female education in Afghanistan.
In the 20th century, Joya Blondel was a French sculptor and artist known for her abstract and surrealist works. Born in 1919, she gained recognition for her innovative use of materials and her unique artistic vision.
Another notable figure with the name Joya was Joya Bagchi, an Indian politician and social activist born in 1929. She dedicated her life to fighting for the rights of marginalized communities and promoting women's empowerment in India.
People
Joya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joya 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
Joya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,630 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joya 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 210,279 US residents.
Is Joya a common name?
We classify Joya as "Rare". It ranks above 92.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,771 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joya most popular?
The single biggest year for Joya was 1990, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joya is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,685 people with the name Joya, or 0.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,580 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 Joya 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 Joya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joya appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,679 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Joya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joya is Black at 43.0%. The next largest groups are White (36.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.4%). 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 Joya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Joya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.0% (724 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 Joya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joya 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 Joya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joya 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 Joya 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 common is the name Joya?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Joya at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.