Johnny

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled ג'וני in IL Israel.

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◐

Johnny is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name757K records spelled Johnny26 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Brazil, France, Peru

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French

  Also written Jöhnny, Jōhńńy, Jôhnny, Jóhññý, Johnnÿ

• Polish given name12K records spelled Johnny53 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Poland, Czechia, Russia

  Languages: Polish, Russian, Czech

  Also written Джонни, Johnnie, Dzhonni, Jonny, Джонні

• Finnish given name6.7K records spelled Johnny4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, United States, Sweden, Philippines

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Jõhnny, Jöhnny

• Thai given name4.1K records spelled Johnny27 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Thailand, Laos, United Kingdom

  Languages: Thai, Lao

  Also written Jonny, จอนนี่, จอห์นนี่, Johny, จอนนี

• a separate given name3.7K records spelled Johnny6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Norway, Peru, Canada

  Also written Jöhňñy, Jôhnny, J̶o̶h̶n̶n̶y̶, J̥o̥h̥n̥n̥y̥, Jöhñny

69 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●

Johnny 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, A diminutive of the male given name John.

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

• In Swedish, Johnny (m.fl. former) är en engelsk smekform till John (→ Johannes). Stavningen Jonny användes i Sverige under tidigt 1900-tal även som kvinnonamn. En känd namnbärare är den amerikanske musikern Johnny Cash (1932–2003). I den finlandssvenska almanackan 24 juni.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• English and Scottish: pet form of JOHN . In America it is occasionally also used as a female name. Variant: Johnnie .

  as a word

• In Swedish, a male given name borrowed from English

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

• In Danish, a male given name of English origin

  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●

• Johnny Weissmullerb. 1904USAmerican swimmer, water polo player, and actor (1904–1984)
• Johnny Hortonb. 1925USAmerican singer (1925–1960)
• Johnny Carsonb. 1925USAmerican talk show host and comedian (1925–2005)
• Johnny Cashb. 1932USAmerican country singer (1932–2003)
• Jimi Hendrixb. 1942USnot in their usual nameAmerican guitarist (1942–1970)
• Johnny Isaksonb. 1944USAmerican politician (1944–2021)
• Johnny Loganb. 1954IEIrish singer and songwriter
• Johnny Briceñob. 1960BZPrime Minister of Belize since 2020
• Johnny Yong Boschb. 1976USAmerican actor
• Johnny Simmonsb. 1986USAmerican actor

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 · 1,367 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Johnny?

We estimate roughly 258 thousand people bear Johnny (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Johnny have the most bearers?

We estimate about 182 thousand people bear Johnny in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled johnny.

Where is Johnny most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Johnny is densest in Finland — about 1 in 365 people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.

How common is Johnny compared with other names?

In the United States, Johnny is the 270th most common given name of 3,122,706 given names recorded there.

Is Johnny a male or female name?

Johnny is a male 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 Johnny mean?

Recorded meaning: ,2 Pet form of John. In the United States it is occasionally also used as a girl’s name.