John
Latin Iohannes, from the Hebrew Yochanan, Yahweh is gracious. Two New Testament figures, the Baptist and the evangelist, made it the commonest male name in Europe.
John in 2025
John was given to 8,033 babies in the United States in 2025, making it the 33rd most popular name of the year. That is roughly one in every 413 babies born.
The history of John
John has been the single most popular name in the country 5 times, and reached its highest point in 1947, when 88,527 babies were given the name.
Across the 146 years of records since 1880, 5,204,377 babies have been named John. Half of them were born before 1952, which places the name's centre of gravity with the Baby Boomers.
John by decade
| Decade | Babies named John | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 90,394 | 1 |
| 1890s | 81,191 | 2 |
| 1900s | 85,070 | 2 |
| 1910s | 378,105 | 2 |
| 1920s | 567,647 | 2 |
| 1930s | 490,531 | 4 |
| 1940s | 713,692 | 3 |
| 1950s | 799,918 | 3 |
| 1960s | 716,135 | 2 |
| 1970s | 405,005 | 4 |
| 1980s | 323,285 | 10 |
| 1990s | 240,645 | 15 |
| 2000s | 161,412 | 17 |
| 2010s | 102,933 | 35 |
| 2020s | 48,414 | 32 |
Where John is heading
John has fallen 23% over the past decade, from 10,434 babies in 2015 to 8,033 in 2025.
Names like John
Names that rose and fell at the same time as John.