Masterpiece Generator Name Generator
How popular is the name Joy?
Births per year, rank history and how many Joys are alive today.
Joy (female), once a common girls' name, is now an uncommon choice for new babies in England and Wales, ranked 542nd in 2025 with 73 given the name. The name peaked in 1954, when around 410 babies were given the name, the 89th most popular that year. It has declined since 1954; the 2025 figure is roughly 18% of its peak. Numbers have been stable in recent years. At least 19,000 babies have been named Joy in England and Wales since 1934. Figures before 1996 are estimates.
The Joy you are most likely to meet is around 71 years old. Half of all Joys born in England and Wales are between 48 and 76, and there are at least 16,000 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 females, there's roughly a 5% chance that at least one of them will be called Joy.
How many babies are named Joy each year?
Where does Joy rank among girls' names?
Where this data comes from
Figures from 1996 onwards are the Office for National Statistics' annual baby-name registrations for England and Wales, which record every name given to three or more babies in a year. Figures before 1996 are estimates: the ONS published only top-100 rankings at ten-year intervals back to 1904, so counts for those years are modelled from the rankings, calibrated against Douglas Galbi's long-run research into English name frequencies, and shown with an uncertainty band. Estimates of living bearers combine these birth figures with national life tables and ONS mid-year population estimates.
One limit worth naming: these figures count names as registered at birth. Anyone who changes their name later in life - including trans people, and anyone who adopts a different name by deed poll or simply by use - is not reflected here. Birth registrations record where a name began, not the name a person lives with.
Common questions
When was the name Joy most popular?
Joy peaked in 1954, when around 410 babies in England and Wales were given the name.
How many people are called Joy?
At least 16,000 people named Joy born in England and Wales are alive today.
How old is the typical Joy?
Most living Joys are between 48 and 76; the most common age is about 71.
Is Joy becoming more or less popular?
Well past its peak: today's figures are a fraction of the 1954 peak, though numbers have levelled off in recent years.