US baby names · Girls · 1880–2025
Joan: name popularity by year
How often US parents chose Joan for a baby girl, year by year, from Social Security Administration records. When it peaked, how long it stayed in the top 10, and which generation it belongs to.
Joan was one of the 10 most common girls' names in the US in 9 years, between 1930 and 1938, reaching #5. Births peaked in 1932, when 21,044 baby girls were named Joan, so by peak year it is a Silent Generation name.
Joan in the US top 10, by year
Rank among girls' names, #1 at the top. Blank years: outside the top 10. Dashed line: the year with the most babies named Joan (1932).
Top-10 years by generation
| Generation | Years in top 10 | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 9 (1930–1938) | #5 |
Questions people ask
When was the name Joan most popular?
By number of babies, in 1932, when 21,044 girls were given the name. By rank, it reached #5 and spent 9 years in the top 10.
What generation is the name Joan?
Its peak year, 1932, falls in Silent Generation (1928–1945). Its 9 top-10 years fall in: Silent Generation (9).
How many people have been named Joan?
SSA counted 481,238 girls named Joan born from 1880 to 2025. That is births, not people alive today, and it misses many people born before 1937 who never applied for a Social Security card.
In the top 10 at the same time
Source: US Social Security Administration baby-name data, from Social Security card applications for births in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, 1880–2025. Many people born before 1937 never applied for a card, so early years undercount. Spellings are counted separately. We hold each year's top 10 in rank order and each name's peak-year and all-time counts, so the chart shows rank rather than births per year. This page gives no meaning or origin for the name and no estimate of how many people named Joan are alive today.