Juana
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 12,873 living Americans carry the first name Juana. It is a predominantly female name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Juana today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Juana births was 1994 (265 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Juana. 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 Juana with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Juana is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 88 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
13K
~ 1 in 26,626 Americans
Peak year
1994
265 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2004 SSA rank
#1,102
Tracked since 1880
Census
Juana in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 88,953 people with the first name Juana, which placed it at #597 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
#597
National first-name rank
People counted
89K
88,953 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
29.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
97.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Juana
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Juana is Hispanic at 97.3%. The next largest groups are White (1.1%) and Black (0.8%). 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 Juana 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 Juana at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino97.3% · 86,589
- White1.1% · 951
- Black or African American0.8% · 727
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 488
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 126
- Two or more races0.1% · 72
Gender
Gender distribution for Juana
Out of the 18,693 babies given the name Juana since 1880, 99.5% 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.
Juana as a male name
- Ranked #12,254 in 2004
- 5 male births in 2004
- Peak: 1989 (9 births)
Juana as a female name
- Ranked #1,102 in 2024
- 221 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1994 (265 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Juana appears almost entirely female. Of the 88,951 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Juana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Juana from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 2,367 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Juana remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Juana 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 Juana during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Juanas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Juana, while Mississippi, Missouri, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 421 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Juana
The name Juana has its origins in the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious." It later evolved into the Greek form Ioannes and the Latin Johannes, from which the English name John derives. Juana is the Spanish feminine form of Juan, the Spanish equivalent of John.
The name Juana first appeared in Spain and other Spanish-speaking regions during the Middle Ages. It was a common name among Catholic families, as it was associated with John the Baptist, one of the most revered figures in Christianity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Juana can be found in the 13th-century epic poem "El Cantar de Mio Cid," where it is mentioned as the name of the wife of the legendary Spanish hero El Cid Campeador.
Throughout history, there have been several notable women named Juana. Juana I, also known as Juana la Loca (Juana the Mad), was the Queen of Castile and Aragon from 1504 to 1555. She is famous for her supposed mental instability and her tumultuous relationship with her husband, Philip the Handsome.
Another famous Juana is Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695), a Mexican nun who was a renowned poet, playwright, and scholar during the Spanish Golden Age. She is considered one of the most important literary figures in the Spanish language and a pioneer of feminist literature.
In the 16th century, Juana de Asbaje (1551-1624) was a Spanish mystic and writer who is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. Her spiritual writings and teachings were highly influential in her time.
Juana Azurduy (1780-1862) was a revolutionary leader who played a significant role in the fight for independence in Bolivia and Argentina during the Spanish American wars of independence.
Juana Borrero (1876-1896) was a Cuban poet and activist who fought for women's rights and independence from Spain. She is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Cuban independence movement.
These are just a few examples of notable women named Juana throughout history, a name that has been popular in Spanish-speaking cultures for centuries and has left an indelible mark on various fields, including literature, politics, and religion.
People
Juana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Juana 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
Juana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Juana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,873 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Juana 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 26,626 US residents.
Is Juana a common name?
We classify Juana as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 18,693 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Juana most popular?
The single biggest year for Juana was 1994, when 265 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Juana is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Juana in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 88,953 people with the name Juana, or 29.45 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #597 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 Juana 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 Juana?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Juana appears almost entirely female. Of the 88,951 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 Juana?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Juana is Hispanic at 97.3%. The next largest groups are White (1.1%) and Black (0.8%). 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 Juana most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Juana in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.3% (86,589 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 Juana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Juana a female name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Juana 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 Juana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Juana 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 Juana 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 Juana?
Want to know how many Americans are named Juana? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.