How rare is the name Johnson?

7,851 people in the United States have the first name Johnson, about 1 in 38,470. It ranks #2,906 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

JOHNSON

#2,906

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
7,851
About
1 in 38,470
This common or more
81.2%
Who bears it

Of the 7,851 people named Johnson, 39.6% reported their origin as Asian or Pacific Islander, 30.6% as Black and 19.8% as White. 92.8% are male. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Johnson peaked in 2000, when 111 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
2000
Births that year
111
In 2025*
34 ▼69%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 7,043 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Johnson by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1880s, when it ranked #1,121. The largest share of babies named Johnson, 20.3%, were born between 1981 and 1996, as millennials.

1880s#1,121126
1890s#1,275155
1900s#1,243221
1910s#1,522528
1920s#1,716632
1930s#2,030411
1940s#2,115472
1950s#2,857365
1960s#3,167352
1970s#4,391274
1980s#2,434832
1990s#2,893884
2000s#3,640879
2010s#4,745641
2020s#6,015271
Before 19014.5%
Greatest Generation 1901–2717.3%
Silent Generation 1928–4511.5%
Baby boom 1946–6410.7%
Generation X 1965–806.9%
Millennials 1981–9620.3%
Generation Z 1997–1218.5%
2013 and later10.2%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Johnson is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Johnson has been most common in California (3.3×), Arizona (3.2×), and South Carolina (2.8×), and least common in Tennessee (0.93×).

2,588 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Johnson

#2,904 Hang · 7,854#2,904 Richelle · 7,854#2,907 Priyanka · 7,849#2,908 Saige · 7,835

Spelled almost the same

2 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Johnson, most common first.

#44,846 Jonson · 153#49,963 Johansen · 122

Also a last name

As a last name, Johnson ranks #2 of 156,621, with 1,858,234 people. See Johnson as a last name

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