John

3,125,123 people in America carry this name — ranked #2 of 923.

A name almost everyone has met.

Say it JAHN

1 syllable · the capitals are the stressed part

Phonetic transcription

JH AA1 N — ARPAbet, as published in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. The digit on a vowel marks its stress.

  • People counted 3,125,123 2020 Census
  • As a surname 37,363 ranked #919 the other way round

What John means and where it comes from

Hebrew in origin, reading literally as “the Lord’s grace”.

Origins are a matter of scholarly argument rather than record, and a name can be traced more than one way. We state one reading and say where it came from.

John name popularity by year

5,163,958 babies were given this name since 1880. The busiest year was 1947, with 88,522 of them.

80 90 00 10 20 30 40 50s 60 70 80 90 00 10 20

Most people carrying it were born in the 1950s. It has been given less often of late.

Counted from Social Security card applications, so it covers births registered in the United States and leaves out names given to fewer than five babies in a year.

Middle names that fit John

One syllable, so a longer middle name gives the whole a rhythm.

Better avoided

  • John Joseph — same opening
  • John Jose — same opening
  • John Joshua — same opening

Chosen by sound from the pronouncing dictionary, then ordered by how often the name is given. None of it is a rule — the ear decides.

A name from before the war

The year most children were called John was 1947. Names of that age tend to come back once their owners are grandparents.

Boys or girls: who is called John?

99.8% men
6,503 women

As recorded on census returns, not as anyone thinks the name ought to be used.

Names with the same rhythm as John

Ends on the same sound

Same rhythm — 1 syllables, stress on the first

Matched on phonemes, not spelling, so the lists follow the ear rather than the page.

The states where John is most common

In Rhode Island the name is given 1.7 times as often as it is across the country.

  • Rhode Island ×1.7
  • Delaware ×1.7
  • the District of Columbia ×1.7
  • Massachusetts ×1.6
  • Connecticut ×1.5

Measured against the state's own share of births since 1960, so a small state can lead a big one. Counted from Social Security card applications.

The same name elsewhere

  • Jvic Ill
  • Jvan Bulg
  • Juan Spanish
  • Jofa Lapp
  • Joao Portuguese
  • Gian Italian
  • Nanni Italian
  • Jvica Ill
  • Jovan Ill.|Swiss
  • Johan Swiss|Esth
  • Jonkus Lith
  • Johnny English
  • Jockey English
  • Enskys Lett

Forms of one name traced to the same root. Spellings are as the glossary printed them, so some look older than the versions in use today.

Spellings of John

John is how 94% of them spell it — 3,308,227 people answer to the sound.

Each spelling is its own census entry — the counts never overlap, so the shares are of the group, not of the country.

Names about as common

The nearest entries above and below by number of people.

Try it Birth Plan Worksheet

Tick what matters, print it, hand it over. Nothing is stored anywhere.

Open Birth Plan Worksheet on its own page

Where this page gets its numbers

  • Counts, ranks and shares: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census tabulations of first and last names occurring 100 or more times. Percentages, bands and groupings are our own arithmetic — the conclusions are ours, not the Bureau’s.
  • Pronunciation, syllables and rhyme groups: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, Carnegie Mellon University. The plain-English respelling is ours.
  • Origins and the forms a name takes in other languages: Charlotte Yonge, History of Christian Names, 1884 — a public-domain work. Scholarship has moved on since, so read it as one reading of a name, not the last word.

Below a hundred people we publish no figure at all — the same threshold the Census Bureau applies to us. What each source covers
Other names of Hebrew origin