Humanverse

Joyanna vs Joycelynn

American parents have registered 772 Joyannas since 1880, against 588 Joycelynns. Joyanna is still ahead, with 6 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Joyanna against Joycelynn, 1880 to 2025 0 13 25 38 50 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Joyanna Joycelynn

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

Of the 71 years in which either name was published, Joyanna for 41 years and Joycelynn for 30 years. The lead changed hands 17 times.

12 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

  Joyanna Joycelynn
Total US births 772588
Most in one year 4220
Babies in 2025 65
Estimated living today 760560
Median age today 1526
Peak year 20142007
Best rank 3,652nd girls6,552nd girls
Rank in 2025 13,208th14,942nd
First recorded 19661937
Girls / boys 772 / 0588 / 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 Joycelynns alive today are over 26; half the Joyannas are over 15. That is 11 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: Joyanna and Joycelynn.