Yochanon
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 38 living Americans carry the first name Yochanon. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yochanon today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yochanon births was 1993 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yochanon. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Yochanon. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
38
~ 1 in 9,019,851 Americans
Peak year
1993
7 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2021 SSA rank
#14,011
Tracked since 1993
Popularity
Yochanon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yochanon from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 15 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Yochanon remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yochanon 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 Yochanon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yochanons live
Origin
Meaning and history of Yochanon
The given name Yochanon is a Hebrew name with roots dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew name Yochanan, which is a contraction of the elements "Yo" (referring to Yahweh, the Hebrew name for God) and "chanan" (meaning "gracious"). The name Yochanan is an ancient Hebrew name that can be traced back to biblical times.
In the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament, there are several prominent figures who bore the name Yochanan or its variants. One of the most well-known is John the Baptist, a Jewish preacher who baptized Jesus Christ in the Jordan River. His name is mentioned in all four Gospels of the New Testament.
Another notable figure with this name is John the Apostle, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ and traditionally regarded as the author of the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation. He lived during the 1st century AD.
In the 5th century AD, there was a famous Christian monk named John Cassian, who played a significant role in introducing Eastern monastic traditions to the West. He was born around 360 AD and died around 435 AD.
During the Middle Ages, a prominent figure bearing this name was John of Damascus, a Christian monk and theologian who lived in the 7th and 8th centuries. He is revered as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and is known for his writings on theology and his defense of icons.
In the 13th century, there was a renowned Italian philosopher and theologian named John Duns Scotus, who made significant contributions to the development of Scholastic philosophy and theology. He was born around 1266 and died in 1308.
These are just a few examples of historical figures who bore the name Yochanon or its variants throughout the centuries, reflecting its deep roots in various religious and cultural traditions.
People
Yochanon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yochanon as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Y
Other first names starting with Y with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Yochanon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yochanon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 38 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yochanon 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 9,019,851 US residents.
Is Yochanon a common name?
We classify Yochanon as "Very Rare". It ranks above 50.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 39 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yochanon most popular?
The single biggest year for Yochanon was 1993, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yochanon is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Yochanon a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yochanon in the SSA data are male. 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.