FastNamesJohn
Hebrew name meaning "Derived from Hebrew Yochanan, meaning 'Yahweh is gracious' or 'the Lord is merciful'.". Ranked 23rd for boys in 2025.
Meaning and origin of John
Derived from Hebrew Yochanan, meaning 'Yahweh is gracious' or 'the Lord is merciful'.
Linguistically, John is classified under Hebrew naming traditions. It is typically pronounced "JON".
Popularity and ranking
In official US Social Security birth records from 1880 through 2025, John has been given to a total of 5,182,633 boys. It has also been given to 21,744 girls.
Peak year: John reached its highest relative share among boys in 1880, when 9,655 babies received the name (87,383 per million births).
All-time best rank: 1st place, first achieved in 1880.
Recent standing (2025): Ranked 23rd with 8,027 births. Ten years earlier in 2015, it ranked 26th (up 3 spots).
Busiest decade: More boys were named John in the 1950s than in any other decade (797,922 births).
| Decade | Recorded births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 89,949 |
| 1890s | 80,664 |
| 1900s | 84,590 |
| 1910s | 376,311 |
| 1920s | 564,052 |
| 1930s | 487,950 |
| 1940s | 711,614 |
| 1950s | 797,922 |
| 1960s | 713,394 |
| 1970s | 402,612 |
| 1980s | 321,150 |
| 1990s | 240,151 |
| 2000s | 161,104 |
| 2010s | 102,800 |
| 2020s | 48,370 |
Source: Social Security Administration, national baby name data, data through 2025. Names given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year aren't published, so totals are a little lower than actual births.
Where John is most common in the US
Accounting for when John was in fashion nationally, it has been most heavily concentrated in the following states (measured against the expected rate from each state's births):
- Delaware: 1.5 times the national rate (15,457 births since 1910).
- Massachusetts: 1.5 times the national rate (200,990 births since 1910).
- New Jersey: 1.4 times the national rate (198,618 births since 1910).
- Rhode Island: 1.4 times the national rate (29,923 births since 1910).
- Connecticut: 1.4 times the national rate (80,738 births since 1910).
Source: Social Security Administration, baby names by state, data through 2025. Names given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a state in a year aren't published, so totals are a little lower than actual births.
How many people have the name John?
About 2,761,000 living American boys and men share the name John. Additionally, an estimated 11,500 living American girls and women share the name.
The median age of an American named John is 60 years old.
Estimated from Social Security Administration records (1880–2025) and official SSA cohort mortality tables.
History of the name John
John traces back through Greek Ioannes and Latin Johannes to the Hebrew name Yochanan. Two foundational biblical figures established its reverence in the early Church: John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ, and John the Apostle, traditionally regarded as the author of the fourth Gospel and the Book of Revelation.
Following the Christianization of Europe, John became so ubiquitous that historical demographers estimate up to twenty percent of all English men bore the name during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It produced countless surnames (Johnson, Jones, Jenkins), widespread idiomatic expressions, and was borne by prominent monarchs, philosophers like John Locke, and American founding figures like John Adams and John Hancock.
In the United States, John was the premier boys' name of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, holding an uninterrupted number one ranking from 1880 through 1923. It remained an unbroken top-ten staple for over a century until 1987, accumulating more than 5.2 million recorded births in Social Security files and standing alongside James as an anchor of American personal naming.
Notable people named John
- John Adams (1735–1826), 2nd U.S. President
- John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), 35th U.S. President
- John Lennon (1940–1980), Musician and songwriter
- John Locke (1632–1704), Philosopher
- John Coltrane (1926–1967), Jazz saxophonist and composer
Variants and related names
Spelling variants
Diminutives and nicknames
Related names
Sources and references
- Patrick Hanks, Kate Hardcastle, Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of First Names (2006), p. 144.
- E. G. Withycombe. The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names (1977), p. 178.
- Douglas Harper. Online Etymology Dictionary. Reference link.