Joy
Joy is ranked 442nd among girls in 2024 (702 births). Its best rank was 109th, in 1974.
- Rank in 2024
- #442up 12 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 7020.04% of girls
- Peak year
- 19572,929 births
- Best rank
- #109in 1974
- Since 1885
- 142,535people given the name
The story in the numbers
139,933 girls have been named Joy in the United States since 1885, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1957, with 2,929 births — 0.14% of all girls recorded that year.
It is holding steady: its share of births has moved by less than half in either direction over ten years (rank 458 → 442).
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1962, and the 1950s alone account for 18%. It has spent 139 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 2,602 boys have also been given it, 1.8% of the total.
Rank among girls, year by year
By decade
| Decade | girls named Joy | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 52 | |
| 1890s | 186 | |
| 1900s | 364 | |
| 1910s | 1,742 | |
| 1920s | 7,353 | |
| 1930s | 13,185 | |
| 1940s | 15,565 | |
| 1950s | 24,518 | |
| 1960s | 21,757 | |
| 1970s | 20,119 | |
| 1980s | 11,680 | |
| 1990s | 6,183 | |
| 2000s | 5,933 | |
| 2010s | 7,662 | |
| 2020s | 3,634 |
In 1957, its biggest year
Joy was the 143rd most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1957 were Mary, Susan, Linda, Debra and Karen. See all of 1957.
Names that rose and fell with Joy
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Twylapeak 1964
- Rositapeak 1966
- Evonnepeak 1957
- Laraepeak 1975
- Janettapeak 1954
- Betsypeak 1959
- Janettepeak 1953
- Collenepeak 1958
Other spellings in the data
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.