Meaning & origin
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1918. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Joao through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 2,353
- 2,353 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2024
- 135 babies
- 2025
- 121
- #1,471 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +80%
- Rising fast
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 121 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 1,471 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 79.9% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. In 2025, Texas had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (17). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 8,843 as a first name in 2020; 327 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Joao’s family of names
In English usage, Joao shares an earlier linguistic root with John. In English usage, Joao was borrowed from the Portuguese form João. Joao has a related form in John.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 40
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- Joãosource · Portuguese
- Jackequivalent
- Ianequivalent
- Giovanniequivalent
- Evanequivalent
- Ivanequivalent
- Juanequivalent
- Johnnyequivalent
Show 32 moreShow fewer
- Johanequivalent
- Joanequivalent
- Jeanequivalent
- Jonequivalent
- Gianequivalent
- Hansequivalent
- Johannequivalent
- Johannesequivalent
- Janequivalent
- Yannisequivalent
- Ioannisequivalent
- Ionequivalent
- Yannequivalent
- Ivoequivalent
- Ioanequivalent
- Jaanequivalent
- Hannsequivalent
- Ieuanequivalent
- Ivanoequivalent
- Іванequivalent
- Siônequivalent
- Ifanequivalent
- Joannesequivalent
- Jónequivalent
- Иванequivalent
- Seánequivalent
- Iwoequivalent
- Honzaequivalent
- Jóhannesequivalent
- Jógvanequivalent
- Jóhannequivalent
- Jánosequivalent
People named Joao
- Joao GrimaldoPeruvian association football playerborn 2003
- Joao RojasEcuadorian footballerborn 1989
- Joao RodríguezColombian association football playerborn 1996
- Joao PlataEcuadorian footballerborn 1992
- Joao Costa NetoBrazilian association football playerborn 1981
- Joao UrbáezDominican Republic footballerborn 2002
- Joao Rojasassociation football playerborn 1997
- Joao BussottiItalian athleteborn 1993
- Joao OrtizChilean footballerborn 1991
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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If you love Joao, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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