Joyce
Joyce was given to 226 girls in 2025, #1,074 among girls’ names; 512,232 Americans have been recorded with it since 1882 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 271,000 Americans named Joyce and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (53% of everyone recorded); the median is 74 years old and half are between 66 and 81.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Joyce by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Joyce mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Joyce is “a female given name from the Celtic languages, associated by folk etymology with joy and rejoice.” Its etymology gives the sense “lord” (iudh).
Medieval (Middle English) given name from Old French Josse, name of a seventh century saint Latinized as Iodocus, from Breton Iodoc, diminutive of iudh (“lord”), from Proto-Celtic *yowdos.
/d͡ʒɔɪs/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Joyce?
#1,074 among girls’ names, 2025
Joyce fell from #844 in 2015 to #1,074 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.19 to 0.14 per 1,000.
16,807 babies in 1942, the peak
Joyce peaked in 1942, when 16,807 babies were given it (16,728 girls, #13 among girls’ names). The 233 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 226 | #1,074 | 0.14 |
| 2024 | 241 | #1,042 | 0.15 |
| 2023 | 237 | #1,057 | 0.15 |
| 2022 | 269 | #984 | 0.16 |
| 2021 | 274 | #954 | 0.17 |
| 2020 | 261 | #977 | 0.16 |
| 2019 | 287 | #925 | 0.17 |
| 2018 | 284 | #940 | 0.17 |
| 2017 | 325 | #836 | 0.19 |
| 2016 | 385 | #738 | 0.22 |
Every recorded year (142)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 332 | #844 | 0.19 |
| 2014 | 353 | #796 | 0.20 |
| 2013 | 328 | #820 | 0.19 |
| 2012 | 298 | #890 | 0.17 |
| 2011 | 264 | #972 | 0.15 |
| 2010 | 303 | #877 | 0.17 |
| 2009 | 287 | #932 | 0.16 |
| 2008 | 318 | #876 | 0.17 |
| 2007 | 342 | #838 | 0.18 |
| 2006 | 325 | #831 | 0.17 |
| 2005 | 324 | #799 | 0.18 |
| 2004 | 345 | #758 | 0.19 |
| 2003 | 345 | #741 | 0.19 |
| 2002 | 358 | #700 | 0.20 |
| 2001 | 370 | #675 | 0.21 |
| 2000 | 362 | #668 | 0.20 |
| 1999 | 337 | #675 | 0.19 |
| 1998 | 332 | #685 | 0.19 |
| 1997 | 331 | #664 | 0.19 |
| 1996 | 343 | #651 | 0.20 |
| 1995 | 372 | #605 | 0.21 |
| 1994 | 373 | #602 | 0.21 |
| 1993 | 423 | #563 | 0.23 |
| 1992 | 441 | #535 | 0.24 |
| 1991 | 446 | #522 | 0.24 |
| 1990 | 512 | #478 | 0.27 |
| 1989 | 489 | #482 | 0.27 |
| 1988 | 475 | #481 | 0.27 |
| 1987 | 561 | #406 | 0.32 |
| 1986 | 537 | #411 | 0.31 |
| 1985 | 537 | #416 | 0.31 |
| 1984 | 593 | #382 | 0.35 |
| 1983 | 635 | #358 | 0.38 |
| 1982 | 663 | #354 | 0.39 |
| 1981 | 687 | #341 | 0.41 |
| 1980 | 731 | #330 | 0.44 |
| 1979 | 737 | #320 | 0.46 |
| 1978 | 776 | #298 | 0.51 |
| 1977 | 846 | #283 | 0.55 |
| 1976 | 947 | #248 | 0.65 |
| 1975 | 1,126 | #219 | 0.77 |
| 1974 | 1,263 | #201 | 0.86 |
| 1973 | 1,226 | #209 | 0.84 |
| 1972 | 1,348 | #206 | 0.89 |
| 1971 | 1,693 | #182 | 1.0 |
| 1970 | 2,030 | #164 | 1.2 |
| 1969 | 2,227 | #148 | 1.3 |
| 1968 | 2,496 | #128 | 1.5 |
| 1967 | 2,945 | #116 | 1.8 |
| 1966 | 3,399 | #100 | 2.0 |
| 1965 | 4,128 | #90 | 2.3 |
| 1964 | 4,859 | #87 | 2.6 |
| 1963 | 5,222 | #84 | 2.7 |
| 1962 | 6,096 | #74 | 3.1 |
| 1961 | 6,996 | #62 | 3.5 |
| 1960 | 7,757 | #58 | 3.8 |
| 1959 | 8,520 | #50 | 4.2 |
| 1958 | 9,034 | #46 | 4.5 |
| 1957 | 10,155 | #40 | 5.0 |
| 1956 | 11,091 | #30 | 5.5 |
| 1955 | 11,287 | #29 | 5.8 |
| 1954 | 12,088 | #28 | 6.2 |
| 1953 | 12,796 | #26 | 6.8 |
| 1952 | 13,126 | #27 | 7.1 |
| 1951 | 13,472 | #28 | 7.5 |
| 1950 | 13,415 | #27 | 7.8 |
| 1949 | 13,572 | #26 | 7.9 |
| 1948 | 14,380 | #21 | 8.5 |
| 1947 | 15,915 | #20 | 9.0 |
| 1946 | 15,209 | #20 | 9.7 |
| 1945 | 13,950 | #18 | 10.7 |
| 1944 | 14,770 | #18 | 11.1 |
| 1943 | 16,485 | #16 | 11.8 |
| 1942 | 16,728 | #13 | 12.4 |
| 1941 | 15,684 | #13 | 13.0 |
| 1940 | 14,801 | #13 | 12.9 |
| 1939 | 13,394 | #12 | 12.2 |
| 1938 | 12,698 | #11 | 11.5 |
| 1937 | 11,808 | #11 | 11.1 |
| 1936 | 11,988 | #12 | 11.5 |
| 1935 | 11,368 | #12 | 10.8 |
| 1934 | 11,459 | #12 | 11.0 |
| 1933 | 11,191 | #12 | 11.1 |
| 1932 | 11,362 | #12 | 10.6 |
| 1931 | 10,580 | #15 | 9.9 |
| 1930 | 9,658 | #18 | 8.6 |
| 1929 | 8,596 | #23 | 7.7 |
| 1928 | 7,244 | #30 | 6.3 |
| 1927 | 6,684 | #35 | 5.6 |
| 1926 | 5,704 | #44 | 4.8 |
| 1925 | 4,364 | #59 | 3.6 |
| 1924 | 3,533 | #83 | 2.8 |
| 1923 | 2,670 | #104 | 2.2 |
| 1922 | 2,016 | #126 | 1.7 |
| 1921 | 1,840 | #137 | 1.5 |
| 1920 | 1,523 | #153 | 1.3 |
| 1919 | 1,255 | #173 | 1.1 |
| 1918 | 1,261 | #170 | 1.1 |
| 1917 | 1,017 | #185 | 0.94 |
| 1916 | 746 | #221 | 0.71 |
| 1915 | 640 | #238 | 0.65 |
| 1914 | 456 | #248 | 0.60 |
| 1913 | 273 | #290 | 0.44 |
| 1912 | 222 | #305 | 0.40 |
| 1911 | 136 | #339 | 0.33 |
| 1910 | 135 | #338 | 0.34 |
| 1909 | 96 | #378 | 0.28 |
| 1908 | 105 | #350 | 0.31 |
| 1907 | 80 | #396 | 0.25 |
| 1906 | 77 | #393 | 0.26 |
| 1905 | 79 | #382 | 0.27 |
| 1904 | 56 | #430 | 0.20 |
| 1903 | 73 | #374 | 0.28 |
| 1902 | 69 | #379 | 0.26 |
| 1901 | 43 | #454 | 0.18 |
| 1900 | 59 | #435 | 0.20 |
| 1899 | 45 | #435 | 0.19 |
| 1898 | 40 | #488 | 0.15 |
| 1897 | 27 | #589 | 0.12 |
| 1896 | 37 | #481 | 0.16 |
| 1895 | 29 | #553 | 0.12 |
| 1894 | 22 | #635 | 0.10 |
| 1893 | 20 | #651 | 0.09 |
| 1892 | 14 | #814 | 0.07 |
| 1891 | 17 | #652 | 0.09 |
| 1890 | 17 | #657 | 0.09 |
| 1889 | 12 | #774 | 0.07 |
| 1888 | 11 | #816 | 0.06 |
| 1887 | 7 | #990 | 0.05 |
| 1885 | 7 | #875 | 0.05 |
| 1883 | 6 | #869 | 0.05 |
| 1882 | 7 | #773 | 0.06 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Joyce a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Joyce has been given almost only to girls: 2,900 boys in 142 years of records.
Girls and boys named Joyce: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Joyce, and how old are they?
271,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 53% of the 512,232 Americans ever recorded as Joyce. The median Joyce alive today is 74 years old; half are between 66 and 81.
The 2020 Census counted 324,179 people named Joyce (323,559 women and girls, 620 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 329,365 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 73,700 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 155,000 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 25,700 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 7,920 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 5,210 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 3,850 |
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 Joyce born?
The states with the most babies named Joyce are New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, with 19% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 36,406 | #1,055 | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 30,397 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 27,910 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 27,564 | #1,508 | 1.0× |
| Texas | 26,471 | #1,106 | 0.9× |
| California | 24,672 | #865 | 0.8× |
| Michigan | 24,421 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| North Carolina | 18,368 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Virginia | 16,132 | #1,270 | 1.3× |
| Missouri | 14,960 | not ranked | 1.1× |
Where Joyce is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Joyce is most over-represented in Virginia: since 1910 it was given 1.3 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 Joyce 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 515,008 babies since 1880, Joyce is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 233 of their 298 babies (78%), again the most given.
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 Joyce
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 Joyce and names like it
- Compare Joyce and JocieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1940sJoyce peaked in 1942.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Joyce since 1910.
- The top names of 1942The year the most babies were named Joyce.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Joyce alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with JMost given first.