Girls' name · peaked in 1974
Joy name popularity since 1925
138,019 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Joy (98.5% girls, 1.5% boys). Half of them were born in 1963 or earlier, so the typical Joy is about 63 years old in 2026. Joy peaked in 1974 as the #109 name for girls, and it ranked #419 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 138,019
- Named Joy, 1925–2025
- In 2025
- #419
- for girls in 2025 (747 babies)
- Girls / boys
- 98.5% girls
- 136,017 girls · 2,002 boys
- Most popular in
- Hawaii
- 2.50× its national share
Peak year is the year Joy 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.
Joy births per year, 1925–2025
The biggest year by count was 1957. Measured as a share of all babies, Joy peaked in 1974.
- Fastest rise: Between 1969 and 1974, Joy became 1.9× more common, from 1 in 998 baby girls to 1 in 532.
- Steepest fall: Between 1978 and 1983, its share of baby girls fell by 44%, from 1 in 787 to 1 in 1,400.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Joy's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Joy.
Decade by decade
Babies named Joy 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 | 5,020 | 264 | – |
| 1930s | 13,185 | 409 | #148 |
| 1940s | 15,564 | 233 | #168 |
| 1950s | 24,518 | 183 | #152 |
| 1960s | 21,756 | 166 | #177 |
| 1970s | 20,119 | 156 | #123 |
| 1980s | 11,680 | 133 | #230 |
| 1990s | 6,183 | 113 | #434 |
| 2000s | 5,933 | 93 | #510 |
| 2010s | 7,667 | 139 | #430 |
| 2020–25 | 4,392 | 113 | #419 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
31.7% of babies named Joy from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Baby Boom years (1946–1964). The full split by generation:
Where Joy is most popular
The index compares Joy'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 Joy.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | 2.50× | 1,058 |
| Oklahoma | 1.71× | 3,020 |
| Arkansas | 1.38× | 1,918 |
| Louisiana | 1.33× | 3,247 |
| Tennessee | 1.28× | 3,664 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Joy 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Joy (this page) | 136,017 | 1974 |
| Joi | 6,095 | 1981 |
| Joie | 2,917 | 2019 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Joy's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Joy.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Joy (1974).
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