Joan

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Joanne in GB United Kingdom, AU Australia, SG Singapore and 8 more, Jeanne in FR France, BR Brazil, BE Belgium and Joann in MX Mexico.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 19 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Joan is also recorded as 8 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name959K records spelled Joan25 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, United States, Philippines, Argentina

  Languages: Spanish, Catalan, French

  Also written Joana, Jo-An, Joán, Jöän, Jöan

• a separate given name172K records spelled Joan7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Spain

  Also written Jo-An, Jóan, Joän, Joań, Joán

• Swahili given name157K records spelled Joan3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Kenya, United States, Philippines, Spain

  Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho

  Also written Jo-An

• Portuguese given name98K records spelled Joan5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Spain, United Kingdom

  Also written Jo-An, Joãn, Jöān, Jôan

• Catalan given name55K records spelled Joan6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, Andorra, France, Belgium

  Languages: Catalan, French

  Also written Ioannes, Iōannēs, Ioannès, Iôannès

• Polish given name37K records spelled Joan58 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Poland, Czechia, United Kingdom

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Russian

  Also written Хоан, Джоан, Jhoan, Жоан, Ean

• Indonesian given name29K records spelled Joan5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, Philippines, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Jo-An, 'Joan

• Hungarian given name12K records spelled Joan9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Hungary, United States, Finland, Spain

  Languages: Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Jo-An, Joån, Jöän, Jõån, Jõän

79 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Joan is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, Alternative form of jone.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, Se Joni.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In French, English form of Jeanne; «Dieu est miséricordieux».

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In Danish, a female given name from English borrowed from English, popular in the 1950s and the 1960s

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In roa-opt, John (one of four persons of the Bible)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Joan Mirób. 1893ESSpanish painter, sculptor, and ceramicist (1893–1983)
• Joan Robinsonb. 1903GBEnglish economist (1903–1983)
• Joan Crawfordb. 1905USAmerican actress (1908–1977)
• Joan Bennettb. 1910USAmerican actress (1910–1990)
• Lauren Bacallb. 1924USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress (1924–2014)
• Ruth Bader Ginsburgb. 1933USnot in their usual nameAmerican lawyer and jurist (1933–2020)
• Joan Baezb. 1941USAmerican contemporary folk musician (born 1941)
• Joni Mitchellb. 1943CAnot in their usual nameCanadian musician
• Joan Enric Vives Sicíliab. 1949ESSpanish bishop
• Chynab. 1969USnot in their usual nameAmerican professional wrestler and actress (1969-2016)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,382 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Joan?

We estimate roughly 948 thousand people bear Joan (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Joan have the most bearers?

Joan is most frequently recorded in the United Kingdom, where it is most often spelled joanne.

Where is Joan most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Joan is densest in France — about 1 in 120 people — even though United Kingdom holds more of our records for it.

How common is Joan compared with other names?

In the United Kingdom, Joan is the 27th most common given name of 369,273 given names recorded there.

Is Joan a male or female name?

Joan is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Joan mean?

Recorded meaning: Feminine form of John, from Latin Jo(h)anna; gaelicised as Siobhán.