Joy

Primarily a girl's name · 100% girls

Meaning

Joy is a common unisex given name meaning joy, happiness, joyful. A common variant of the name is the other female given name Joyce. Notable people with the given name include:

From Wikipedia

Joy first appears in the data in 1952 and has been recorded in 11 different years as a girl's name. Its single biggest year was 1952 with 125 babies (rank #68 that year). It was not in the 2025 data. The name has been declining over the last five years.

Numerology of Joy

In Pythagorean numerology, every letter has a value from 1 to 9. Adding the letters of Joy yields these three numbers — a playful read on the name's character.

5Destiny numberThe free spiritCurious, restless, energised by change.Sum of every letter. The overall character a name carries.
4Soul urgeThe builderPractical, steady, gets results through hard work.Sum of the vowels — what's said to drive the heart.
1PersonalityThe leaderIndependent, pioneering, drawn to going first.Sum of the consonants — the outer impression.

695

Total babies (all years)

Years in the data

125

Peak in a single year

Popularity Over Time — Girls

Also a character in

In Pixar: Joy — Riley's primary emotion

Famous people named Joy

Joy Adamsonscientific illustrator · b. 1910
Joy Beharpresenter · b. 1942
Joy Harjoclimate activist · b. 1951

Share your Joy story

Why did you choose this name — or what does it mean to you? Approved stories appear on this page.

More popular girls' names

Other girls' names starting with J

Year-by-Year Detail

Rank is among all girls' names registered that year.

Year	Babies	Rank
1952	125	#68
1953	122	#70
1954	104	#76
1955	93	#85
1956	88	#82
1957	71	#98
1958	80	#99
2014	4	#379
2015	2	#693
2016	2	#678
2017	3	#474