Johanna
Johanna was the 871st most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 309 babies. Its best year was 1883, when it ranked 180th; the most babies were born in 1984 (919). Over the last ten years it has moved down 330 places. More babies were named Johanna in the 1980s than in any other decade.
Meaning God is gracious (feminine of John) · Hebrew, Latin
Say it joh-HAN-uh /dʒoʊˈhænə/
- Rank in 2025
- #871 girls, down 226 places since 2020
- Babies in 2025
- 309girls
- Girls and boys
- Almost always a girl’s name2021–2025
- Peak year
- 1984919 babies
- Total since 1880
- 54,376babies recorded
What does the name Johanna mean?
Johanna is the Latin feminine of Johannes, John. Wiktionary traces it to Greek Iōanna and Hebrew Yochanah, "God is gracious," the feminine of Yochanan; DMNES glosses John as "graced by God." A Joanna, wife of Herod's steward Chuza, is among the women who supported Jesus in Luke 8:3. Wiktionary records Johanna in Dutch, German, Finnish and Swedish, in Sweden from 1312. It has been used in the US since 1880.
יוֹחָנָה (Hebrew, “God is gracious (feminine)”)
How sure is this? Well established.
Related names: Joanna, Joanne, Jane, Hanna, Jo.
See also: Hebrew names, names that mean God, names that mean grace.
Sources for this meaning
- Wiktionary, entry 'Johanna' (English section), Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0; facts restated, no text reused)
- Wiktionary, entry 'Johanna' (Swedish section), Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0; facts restated, no text reused)
- Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources, ed. S. L. Uckelman, Edition 2023 no. 1, s.v. 'John', DMNES (Durham University)
- Luke 8:3 (New Testament), King James Version, via Bible Gateway, Bible Gateway (KJV, public domain)
- US Social Security Administration, national baby-name data 1880-2025 (yob*.txt), team3 computation of first year recorded, US Social Security Administration (public domain)
Nicknames for Johanna
The usual nicknames for Johanna are Jo and Hanna. Some parents skip the long form: for every 100 girls named Johanna in the last five years, 163 were named Hanna, against 242 twenty years earlier. Jo is also gaining on the full name.
| Nickname | Kind | Rank 2025 | Girls, 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jo · also for Josephine, Josie, Joanna | Traditional | #4,028 | 195 |
| Hanna | Modern | #512 | 2,887 |
Nicknames reviewed by our editors; counts are girls given the nickname as their legal first name. Nobody records how many Johannas go by each one.
Johanna popularity since 1880
A few boys are given the name too: 129 since 1973.
| Year | Rank (girls) | Babies (girls) |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #871 | 309 |
| 2020 | #645 | 449 |
| 2010 | #440 | 697 |
| 2000 | #468 | 594 |
| 1990 | #374 | 699 |
| 1980 | #286 | 865 |
| 1970 | #485 | 412 |
| 1960 | #558 | 308 |
| 1950 | #529 | 244 |
| 1940 | #418 | 268 |
| 1930 | #425 | 243 |
| 1920 | #382 | 297 |
| 1910 | #327 | 141 |
| 1900 | #270 | 144 |
| 1890 | #235 | 108 |
| 1880 | #191 | 64 |
How popular is Johanna, counting every spelling?
Johanna is the most common spelling of a name family that ranked #691 for girls in 2025 once every spelling is counted together, compared with #871 for Johanna on its own. Together these spellings went to 413 girls in 2025.
| Spelling | Babies 2025 | Official rank | Babies 2021–2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johanna | 309 | #871 | 1,771 |
| Johana | 80 | #2,287 | 481 |
| Johannah | 24 | #5,311 | 106 |
Spellings count together when they sound the same in American English and are used for the same sex; nicknames and forms that sound different (such as Theo and Theodore) are kept apart. How we group spellings.
How many kids will share the name Johanna?
309 of the 3,606,400 babies born in the US in 2025 were named Johanna (0.09 per 1,000 births). For a girl named Johanna born in 2025, the chance that another child with the same name is in a class of 20 children the same age is under 1 in 50. If every grade liked the name as much as the 2025 babies do, only about one elementary school in 27 (of 430 pupils) would have a child named Johanna.
Shares of all registered births (NCHS); classes assumed to be children born the same year. How we estimate this.
How old are people named Johanna?
About 40,700 people born in the US named Johanna are alive today, with a median age of 36; half are between 20 and 50. That makes Johanna mostly worn by adults in their thirties to fifties.
Babies given the name each year (SSA) times the share of that birth year still alive (SSA life tables). Counts people born in the US only. Method.
Johanna by state
How common Johanna was among girls born in each state in 2021–2025. It is notably more common than nationally in Minnesota (2.4×), Maryland (2.0×). In 18 states fewer than five girls a year got the name, too few for SSA to publish, so those states show as zero.
Names with a similar history
These names rose and fell in step with Johanna: their share of US girls followed the most similar curve since 1880. If you like Johanna, they share its era and feel.
Middle names for Johanna · Sibling names for Johanna
Questions about the name Johanna
What does Johanna mean?
Johanna means “God is gracious (feminine of John)” (Hebrew, Latin origin). Certainty: well established.
How popular is the name Johanna?
Johanna was the 871st most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 309 babies. Its best year was 1883, when it ranked 180th; the most babies were born in 1984 (919). Over the last ten years it has moved down 330 places. More babies were named Johanna in the 1980s than in any other decade.
Is Johanna a boy or girl name?
In 2021–2025, almost always a girl’s name given the name Johanna in the US.
Where is Johanna most popular?
In 2021–2025, Johanna was most common in Minnesota (0.53 per 1,000 girls), followed by Maryland and Virginia.