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Joao

#1,471 in 2025Boys' name

God is gracious, through João

Joao has been given to 2,353 babies in the U.S. since 1918. In 2025 it ranked #1,471 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 135 recorded.

Babies named Joao, 2025

1 in 27,400

Joao over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Joao: meaning, origin, and history

God is gracious, through João

Portuguese

What Joao means

Joao belongs to the name family reached through Joao → João. Its meaning is “God is gracious”.

Origin, language, and formation

Joao is used in English. Its origins include Portuguese.

Joao comes through Portuguese João.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include John and João.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Joao is pronounced /d͡ʒoʊˈaʊ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,353 boys were recorded with the name Joao between 1918 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 135 in 2024; its best national rank was #1,391 in 2024.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #1,930 in 2020 to #1,471 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #2,881 in 2015 to #1,471 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Joao?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 27,400
121 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 14,100
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,471
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
18,992 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Joao sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5002%

Put another way: gather 18,992 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Joao. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Joaos were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Joao was born before 2008 — so the typical Joao is around 17 today.

Median birth year
2008
About 17 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
26.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
66.6%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
2,314
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 26.1% of all recorded uses (614).

Is Joao rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−80
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+459
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+1,410
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.95×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
89.6%
Peak was 2024 (135)
Years since peak
1
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
17.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,391
2024

Spellings of Joao

Joao is not the most common spelling — John is, with 63.6% against Joao's 0.03%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Joao is used

Across 2016–2025, Joao was most concentrated in Massachusetts — about 1 in 3,333 boys, against 1 in 15,571 across all states with data. It was least common in Georgia (1 in 100,000).

130 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Massachusetts1 in 3,333
  2. 2New Jersey1 in 7,143
  3. 3Connecticut1 in 8,333
  4. 4Florida1 in 11,111
  5. 5California1 in 16,667
  6. 6Pennsylvania1 in 16,667
  7. 7Texas1 in 20,000
  8. 8New York1 in 25,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Joao around the world

Where Joao ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #1,153
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    2008–2008
    #378
    in 2008
  • Ireland
    2006–2025
    #432
    in 2025
  • France
    1930–2025
    #674
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2015
    #511
    in 2015
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #1,698
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1984–2010
    #754
    in 2010

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Joao

People whose public names include Joao, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Joao in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Joao. Linked forms have their own page here.

IanIonIvoJanJonEvanGianHansIoanIvanJaanJackJeanJoanJohnJuanYannHannsIeuanIvanoJohanJohannJohnnyYannis

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Joao by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,471
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 459
Best rank ever
#1,391
2024
Peak year
2024
135 that year
First recorded
1918
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,353
Count in 2025
121

Names similar to Joao

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

JoahJoabJoanJoasJoashJoachimJoaquimJoannJoanneJoaJoalJoangelJoannaJoaquinJoakimJoahanJoanthanJoandyJoaopedroJoandryJoahnJoakinJoathanJoandri

Names with a curve like Joao

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Joao, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

TamirNaimIssaSirArisAkivaShalomLisandroYuriArinNaftaliGiorgio

Sibling names for Joao

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Joao

Top names of 2024, Joao's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2024Boys' names starting with JPortuguese Boy Names