Humanverse

Joe vs Joeann

American parents have registered 464,574 Joes since 1880, against 1,283 Joeanns. Joe is still ahead, with 230 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Joe against Joeann, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Joe Joeann

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Joe has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2005, when Joe had 800 and Joeann had 6.

Side by side

  Joe Joeann
Total US births 464,5741,283
Most in one year 8,26640
Babies in 2025 230under 5
Estimated living today 198,000780
Median age today 6467
Peak year 19361941
Best rank 23rd boys1,184th girls
Rank in 2025 991stunranked
First recorded 18801917
Girls / boys 11,319 / 453,2551,283 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Joeanns alive today are over 67; half the Joes are over 64. That is 3 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Joe and Joeann.