How rare is the name Jonah?

63,551 people in the United States have the first name Jonah, about 1 in 4,753. It ranks #778 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

JONAH

#778

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
63,551
About
1 in 4,753
This common or more
66.2%
Who bears it

Of the 63,551 people named Jonah, 66.7% reported their origin as White, 14.3% as Hispanic or Latino and 7.5% as two or more races. 98.8% are male. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Jonah peaked in 2008, when 2,998 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
2008
Births that year
2,998
In 2025*
2,867 ▼4%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 86,075 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.

Jonah by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 2020s, when it ranked #227. The largest share of babies named Jonah, 43.4%, were born between 1997 and 2012, as Generation Z.

1880s#1,41779
1890s#1,97265
1900s#2,29671
1910s#2,500222
1920s#2,513329
1930s#2,703252
1940s#2,994249
1950s#3,191298
1960s#3,430309
1970s#1,3971,789
1980s#1,1412,941
1990s#55510,199
2000s#31123,882
2010s#25428,290
2020s#22717,100
Before 19010.2%
Greatest Generation 1901–270.6%
Silent Generation 1928–450.5%
Baby boom 1946–640.6%
Generation X 1965–802.7%
Millennials 1981–969.2%
Generation Z 1997–1243.4%
2013 and later42.7%

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 Jonah is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Jonah has been most common in Hawaii (4×), Alaska (2.2×), and Utah (1.9×), and least common in Montana (0.57×).

82,155 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 Jonah

#776 Abel · 63,705#777 Valeria · 63,605#779 Kristy · 63,534#780 Lewis · 63,422

Spelled almost the same

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

#6,152 Jona · 2,638#9,657 Jonh · 1,426#13,106 Jonae · 931#32,025 Jonnah · 265#34,261 Jonay · 239#38,175 Jonai · 202#39,013 Joanah · 195

Also a last name

As a last name, Jonah ranks #61,890 of 156,621, with 350 people. See Jonah as a last name

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