Girls' name · peaked in 1932
Joan name popularity since 1925
469,739 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Joan (98.4% girls, 1.6% boys). Half of them were born in 1941 or earlier, so the typical Joan is about 85 years old in 2026. Joan peaked in 1932 as the #5 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 469,739
- Named Joan, 1925–2025
- Peak year
- 1932
- #5 for girls that year
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #1,087 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 98.4% girls
- 462,192 girls · 7,547 boys
- Most popular in
- Rhode Island
- 2.34× its national share
Peak year is the year Joan made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Joan births per year, 1925–2025
1932 was the biggest year for Joan both by count and as a share of all babies.
- Fastest rise: Between 1926 and 1931, Joan became 4.3× more common.
- Steepest fall: Between 1967 and 1972, its share of baby girls fell by 66%, from 1 in 716 to 1 in 2,090.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Joan's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Joan.
Decade by decade
Babies named Joan in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 34,577 | 178 | – |
| 1930s | 173,439 | 780 | #7 |
| 1940s | 117,708 | 448 | #25 |
| 1950s | 85,179 | 273 | #46 |
| 1960s | 36,676 | 221 | #116 |
| 1970s | 6,480 | 140 | #378 |
| 1980s | 3,300 | 247 | #601 |
| 1990s | 1,858 | 619 | #1,103 |
| 2000s | 1,003 | 1,806 | #1,852 |
| 2010s | 941 | 1,625 | #2,001 |
| 2020–25 | 1,031 | 1,210 | #1,087 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
57.7% of babies named Joan from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Silent Generation years (1928–1945). The full split by generation:
Where Joan is most popular
The index compares Joan's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Joan.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Rhode Island | 2.34× | 3,887 |
| New York | 2.22× | 78,942 |
| Massachusetts | 2.20× | 24,588 |
| New Jersey | 2.09× | 27,054 |
| Pennsylvania | 1.95× | 46,597 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Joan and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Girls | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Joan (this page) | 462,192 | 1932 |
| Joann | 155,030 | 1934 |
| Joane | 1,178 | 1935 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Joan's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Joan.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Joan (1932).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data