ninan.org

Joe

Boys' name · Mid-century perennial

Living in the US
~207,400 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#991 among boys
Births in 2025
230 464,574 since 1880
Typical age
64 years, median

Joe popularity over time

Joe rank by birth year, 1880–2025Joe ranked #20 in 1880 and #991 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #20, in 1880.#100#1,000#991best #20 in 188018901920195019802010
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1880–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

More children were named Joe in 1936 than in any other year — 8,266 of them. It is present from 1880, the first year of the record. Joe has spent 92 years inside the national top 100.

In 2025 it ranked #991 with 230 births. Over ten years the count has fallen 50%. Year on year the rank dropped by 109.

Babies named Joe per yearPeaks at 8,266 births in 1936.8,266 in 1936018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Joe?

Roughly 207,400 Joes are alive in the US right now. That is out of 464,574 recorded births since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Joe?

The typical living Joe is 64 years old. Most living bearers were born in the 1950s. By the site’s era rules that makes Joe a mid-century perennial name.

Your Joe

Ages of living people named JoeHalf of living Joes are older than 64 and half younger.median 64020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Joe is most common

Joe is 3.1× as common in Texas as it is nationally. Arkansas, Oklahoma and Mississippi follow.

Where Joe is used more than average5 states use the name Joe more than the national average.Alaska: not over-representedAKMaine: not over-representedMEVermont: not over-representedVTNew Hampshire: not over-representedNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: not over-representedNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: not over-representedNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: not over-representedNJConnecticut: not over-representedCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: 1.3× the national rateCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: not over-representedMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: 1.8× the national rateARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: not over-representedDCOklahoma: 1.8× the national rateOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: 1.5× the national rateMSAlabama: not over-representedALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: 3.1× the national rateTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Joe is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
Texas 972 3.1×
Arkansas 40 1.8×
Oklahoma 55 1.8×
Mississippi 31 1.5×
California 451 1.3×

Joe in England and Wales

ONS recorded 52 births named Joe in 2025, ranking it #687. That is 55% lower than five years earlier.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Joe comes from

(diminutive form) of various names beginning with Jo, particularly the male names Joseph and, less often, Joel, Josiah and Josias. The spelling Jo is used more often for diminutives of similar female names.

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Joe

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Joe Frazier American boxer 1944–2011 72
Joe Pesci American actor 1943 71
Joe Louis American boxer 1914–1981 63
Joe Hart English association football player 1987 63
Joe Satriani American guitarist 1956 55
Joe Cole English association football player 1981 55
Joe Alaskey American actor 1952–2016 55
Joe DiMaggio American baseball player 1914–1999 50
Photo credits (7)

The sharpest rise. Births under this name jumped from 1,494 in 1911 to 2,580 in 1912 — 1.7 times over in a single year.

Birth records contain the rise and nothing about its cause. This site does not supply one.

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

Names similar to Joe

Matched by sound and spelling inside this dataset, then ordered by total recorded births. This is not a claim about shared etymology.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/joe.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).