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BabyNames
Girl name#79 of girl names

Joan

Pronounced JH OW1 N (ARPABET)

  • 1 syllable
  • Peaked 1932
  • 145 years in use
  • 1 spelling
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How popular is Joan?

Joan is a girls' name, and has been in the record since the data starts in 1880. It has been given to 489,590 children — the 79th most common girls' name on record.

It peaked in 1932, went quiet for most of a century, and is climbing again. Its best single year was 1932, when 21,053 children were given it.

Jone is counted with it here, since the two are pronounced identically.

06,25012,50018,75025,00018901920195019802010
1932Girls: 21,053Boys: 88

Spelling variants

These spellings sound identical to Joan and are counted together with it, which is why the totals here are higher than a single-spelling count.

  • Jone

Characteristics

  • 1 syllable
Phonetic detail
Pronunciations:
JH OW1 N
Stress pattern:
1
Syllables:
1

Stress digits mark unstressed (0), primary (1) and secondary (2) syllables.

Names like Joan

Same first letter and syllable count, peaking around the same time.

Frequently asked questions

How popular is the name Joan?
Joan ranks 79th among girls' names in US records, with 489,590 births since 1880. Over the past decade it accounts for 1,400.
Is Joan a unisex name?
No. Joan is recorded almost entirely as a girls' name; births to the other gender are too few to register as a share.
When was Joan most popular?
1932, when 21,053 children were given the name. It has been in use for 145 years and is still recorded as of 2024.
How else is Joan spelled?
Jone. All of these sound the same and are counted together in the totals on this page.