Joy
Joy was given to 747 girls in 2025, #419 among girls’ names; 143,324 Americans have been recorded with it since 1883 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 105,000 Americans named Joy and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (74% of everyone recorded); the median is 55 years old and half are between 39 and 69.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Joy by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Joy mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Joy is “a female given name from English.”
From the noun joy, first used by Puritans in the 17th century.
/d͡ʒɔɪ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Joy?
#419 among girls’ names, 2025
Joy rose from #430 in 2015 to #419 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.41 to 0.46 per 1,000.
2,945 babies in 1957, the peak
Joy peaked in 1957, when 2,945 babies were given it (2,929 girls, #143 among girls’ names). The 774 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 26% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 747 | #419 | 0.46 |
| 2024 | 707 | #440 | 0.44 |
| 2023 | 683 | #451 | 0.43 |
| 2022 | 688 | #462 | 0.42 |
| 2021 | 779 | #407 | 0.47 |
| 2020 | 788 | #396 | 0.49 |
| 2019 | 918 | #344 | 0.55 |
| 2018 | 902 | #353 | 0.53 |
| 2017 | 968 | #336 | 0.56 |
| 2016 | 954 | #352 | 0.54 |
Every recorded year (141)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 734 | #430 | 0.41 |
| 2014 | 699 | #457 | 0.39 |
| 2013 | 653 | #470 | 0.37 |
| 2012 | 622 | #495 | 0.35 |
| 2011 | 585 | #502 | 0.33 |
| 2010 | 632 | #478 | 0.36 |
| 2009 | 587 | #517 | 0.32 |
| 2008 | 575 | #536 | 0.30 |
| 2007 | 604 | #520 | 0.31 |
| 2006 | 608 | #502 | 0.32 |
| 2005 | 584 | #510 | 0.32 |
| 2004 | 615 | #480 | 0.33 |
| 2003 | 583 | #494 | 0.32 |
| 2002 | 590 | #477 | 0.33 |
| 2001 | 580 | #480 | 0.32 |
| 2000 | 607 | #457 | 0.33 |
| 1999 | 596 | #448 | 0.34 |
| 1998 | 583 | #442 | 0.33 |
| 1997 | 580 | #438 | 0.33 |
| 1996 | 587 | #434 | 0.33 |
| 1995 | 593 | #434 | 0.34 |
| 1994 | 589 | #428 | 0.33 |
| 1993 | 632 | #399 | 0.35 |
| 1992 | 616 | #410 | 0.33 |
| 1991 | 710 | #362 | 0.38 |
| 1990 | 697 | #375 | 0.37 |
| 1989 | 802 | #316 | 0.44 |
| 1988 | 837 | #296 | 0.47 |
| 1987 | 862 | #286 | 0.50 |
| 1986 | 1,036 | #249 | 0.60 |
| 1985 | 1,123 | #230 | 0.65 |
| 1984 | 1,155 | #224 | 0.69 |
| 1983 | 1,191 | #211 | 0.71 |
| 1982 | 1,335 | #203 | 0.79 |
| 1981 | 1,622 | #170 | 1.0 |
| 1980 | 1,717 | #165 | 1.0 |
| 1979 | 1,821 | #154 | 1.1 |
| 1978 | 1,946 | #139 | 1.3 |
| 1977 | 2,100 | #136 | 1.4 |
| 1976 | 2,076 | #132 | 1.4 |
| 1975 | 2,306 | #123 | 1.6 |
| 1974 | 2,757 | #109 | 1.9 |
| 1973 | 1,697 | #162 | 1.2 |
| 1972 | 1,817 | #160 | 1.2 |
| 1971 | 1,826 | #169 | 1.1 |
| 1970 | 1,773 | #184 | 1.0 |
| 1969 | 1,691 | #187 | 1.0 |
| 1968 | 1,904 | #170 | 1.2 |
| 1967 | 1,885 | #169 | 1.1 |
| 1966 | 2,090 | #165 | 1.2 |
| 1965 | 1,975 | #177 | 1.1 |
| 1964 | 2,219 | #175 | 1.2 |
| 1963 | 2,181 | #178 | 1.1 |
| 1962 | 2,426 | #169 | 1.2 |
| 1961 | 2,609 | #158 | 1.3 |
| 1960 | 2,776 | #152 | 1.4 |
| 1959 | 2,880 | #146 | 1.4 |
| 1958 | 2,764 | #147 | 1.4 |
| 1957 | 2,929 | #143 | 1.4 |
| 1956 | 2,819 | #140 | 1.4 |
| 1955 | 2,389 | #152 | 1.2 |
| 1954 | 2,367 | #151 | 1.2 |
| 1953 | 2,307 | #151 | 1.2 |
| 1952 | 2,276 | #149 | 1.2 |
| 1951 | 2,012 | #155 | 1.1 |
| 1950 | 1,775 | #159 | 1.0 |
| 1949 | 1,642 | #171 | 1.0 |
| 1948 | 1,627 | #171 | 1.0 |
| 1947 | 1,815 | #166 | 1.0 |
| 1946 | 1,573 | #170 | 1.0 |
| 1945 | 1,389 | #168 | 1.1 |
| 1944 | 1,456 | #163 | 1.1 |
| 1943 | 1,610 | #157 | 1.2 |
| 1942 | 1,592 | #154 | 1.2 |
| 1941 | 1,550 | #150 | 1.3 |
| 1940 | 1,310 | #160 | 1.1 |
| 1939 | 1,259 | #166 | 1.1 |
| 1938 | 1,372 | #159 | 1.2 |
| 1937 | 1,236 | #162 | 1.2 |
| 1936 | 1,483 | #144 | 1.4 |
| 1935 | 1,349 | #148 | 1.3 |
| 1934 | 1,342 | #152 | 1.3 |
| 1933 | 1,291 | #147 | 1.3 |
| 1932 | 1,361 | #147 | 1.3 |
| 1931 | 1,224 | #152 | 1.1 |
| 1930 | 1,268 | #163 | 1.1 |
| 1929 | 1,138 | #177 | 1.0 |
| 1928 | 1,091 | #188 | 0.95 |
| 1927 | 1,127 | #183 | 0.95 |
| 1926 | 892 | #210 | 0.75 |
| 1925 | 772 | #236 | 0.63 |
| 1924 | 578 | #274 | 0.46 |
| 1923 | 540 | #277 | 0.45 |
| 1922 | 447 | #309 | 0.37 |
| 1921 | 392 | #333 | 0.32 |
| 1920 | 376 | #337 | 0.31 |
| 1919 | 322 | #358 | 0.28 |
| 1918 | 303 | #377 | 0.26 |
| 1917 | 256 | #394 | 0.24 |
| 1916 | 214 | #429 | 0.20 |
| 1915 | 190 | #445 | 0.19 |
| 1914 | 158 | #429 | 0.21 |
| 1913 | 120 | #454 | 0.19 |
| 1912 | 68 | #594 | 0.12 |
| 1911 | 63 | #523 | 0.15 |
| 1910 | 48 | #605 | 0.12 |
| 1909 | 54 | #511 | 0.16 |
| 1908 | 38 | #623 | 0.11 |
| 1907 | 38 | #607 | 0.12 |
| 1906 | 40 | #559 | 0.14 |
| 1905 | 38 | #567 | 0.13 |
| 1904 | 36 | #567 | 0.13 |
| 1903 | 30 | #600 | 0.11 |
| 1902 | 38 | #522 | 0.14 |
| 1901 | 25 | #639 | 0.10 |
| 1900 | 27 | #695 | 0.09 |
| 1899 | 23 | #652 | 0.10 |
| 1898 | 20 | #762 | 0.08 |
| 1897 | 30 | #545 | 0.13 |
| 1896 | 18 | #775 | 0.08 |
| 1895 | 24 | #632 | 0.10 |
| 1894 | 21 | #652 | 0.09 |
| 1893 | 10 | #993 | 0.05 |
| 1892 | 16 | #747 | 0.08 |
| 1891 | 14 | #738 | 0.08 |
| 1890 | 10 | #904 | 0.05 |
| 1889 | 20 | #584 | 0.11 |
| 1888 | 10 | #867 | 0.06 |
| 1887 | 7 | #989 | 0.05 |
| 1886 | 6 | #1,035 | 0.04 |
| 1885 | 9 | #774 | 0.07 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Joy a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 143,324 Americans recorded as Joy, 98% are girls and 2% boys. In 2025 it went to 747 girls and 27 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Joy: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Joy, and how old are they?
105,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 74% of the 143,324 Americans ever recorded as Joy. The median Joy alive today is 55 years old; half are between 39 and 69.
The 2020 Census counted 117,520 people named Joy (115,802 women and girls, 1,718 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 109,790 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 7,620 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 34,300 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 29,300 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 14,200 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 9,580 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 10,400 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Joy born?
The states with the most babies named Joy are California, Texas and New York, with 23% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 11,957 | #361 | 0.9× |
| Texas | 10,230 | #368 | 1.0× |
| New York | 8,809 | #416 | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 7,271 | #478 | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 7,095 | #455 | 1.0× |
| Pennsylvania | 6,857 | #475 | 0.8× |
| Michigan | 5,454 | #448 | 0.9× |
| Florida | 4,723 | #315 | 1.1× |
| North Carolina | 4,345 | #523 | 1.0× |
| Georgia | 4,203 | #411 | 1.0× |
Where Joy is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Joy is most over-represented in Hawaii: since 1910 it was given 1.8 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Joy with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 339,752 babies since 1880, Joy is the second most given (42% of them). In 2025 it was given to 774 of their 969 babies (80%), the most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Joy
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Joy and names like it
- Compare Joy and JoBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sJoy peaked in 1957.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Joy since 1910.
- English namesWiktionary’s origin for Joy: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1957The year the most babies were named Joy.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Joy alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with JMost given first.