Junia
A feminine form of the Roman clan name Junius of uncertain meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 940 living Americans carry the first name Junia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Junia today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Junia births was 2022 (80 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Junia. 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 Junia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
940
~ 1 in 364,632 Americans
Peak year
2022
80 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,442
Tracked since 1883
Census
Junia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,081 people with the first name Junia, which placed it at #11,729 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
#11,729
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,081 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
43.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Junia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Junia is White at 43.5%. The next largest groups are Black (31.5%) and Hispanic (9.3%). 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 Junia 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 Junia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White43.5% · 470
- Black or African American31.5% · 340
- Hispanic or Latino9.3% · 101
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.7% · 94
- Two or more races6.4% · 69
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 7
Popularity
Junia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Junia from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 355 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Junia 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 Junia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Junias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Junia, while Washington, Virginia, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 18 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Junia
The name Junia has its origins in ancient Roman culture, derived from the gens (clan) name Junius. The root of the name is believed to be related to the Latin word "iunior," meaning "younger" or "junior." This suggests that the name may have been given to younger children within a family.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Junia appears in the Bible's New Testament, specifically in the Epistle to the Romans (Romans 16:7). Here, the apostle Paul refers to a woman named Junia, whom he describes as "outstanding among the apostles." This has led to speculation that Junia may have been an early Christian missionary or leader, though her exact role remains uncertain.
In the 1st century AD, there was a Roman noblewoman named Junia Tertia, the wife of Gaius Cassius Longinus, a famous Roman jurist and one of the key figures in the plot to assassinate Julius Caesar. Her name is recorded in various historical texts, including the writings of Plutarch and Suetonius.
Another notable historical figure with the name Junia was Junia Calvina, a Roman empress who lived in the 1st century AD. She was the second wife of the Roman emperor Vitellius and played a role in the turbulent events surrounding the Year of the Four Emperors in 69 AD.
In the 4th century AD, there was a Christian martyr named Junia, who was killed during the persecutions of the Roman emperor Diocletian. Her story is recorded in various early Christian texts, and she is venerated as a saint in some Christian traditions.
During the Renaissance period, a prominent Italian humanist and scholar named Junia Guarini (1430-1501) gained recognition for her contributions to the revival of classical learning and her patronage of the arts.
More recently, in the 20th century, there was an American civil rights activist named Junia Cheyney (1878-1964), who worked tirelessly for the advancement of African American education and was a prominent figure in the NAACP.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Junia, demonstrating its enduring legacy and cultural significance across various eras and contexts.
People
Junia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Junia 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
Junia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Junia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 940 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Junia 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 364,632 US residents.
Is Junia a common name?
We classify Junia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,232 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Junia most popular?
The single biggest year for Junia was 2022, when 80 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Junia is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Junia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,081 people with the name Junia, or 0.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,729 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 Junia 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 Junia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Junia leans strongly female. 1,047 people counted with this name were female (96.8%), compared with 35 male bearers (3.2%). 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 Junia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Junia is White at 43.5%. The next largest groups are Black (31.5%) and Hispanic (9.3%). 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 Junia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Junia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.5% (470 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 Junia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Junia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Junia 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 Junia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Junia 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 Junia 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 Junia?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Junia at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.