Joy

Where Joy comes from

From the noun joy, first used by Puritans in the 17th century.
— Wiktionary's entry for Joy
  • English
  • 1 syllable
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1885
    First appearance
    #745 among girls, 9 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1885
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
  3. 1910
    Joy Adamson born
    Austrian-British naturalist, painter, writer, collector and illustrator
  4. 1942
    Joy Behar born
    American comedian, television host, actress and writer
  5. 1974
    Peak, #109
    2,757 babies named Joy — more than any year before or since.
  6. 1982
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #203.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from English.
Namesakes
  • Joy Adamson · Austrian-British naturalist, painter, writer, collector and illustrator, 1910–1980
  • Joy Behar · American comedian, television host, actress and writer, born 1942
  • Joy Harjo · American Poet Laureate, born 1951
  • Joy Lauren · American actress, born 1989
  • Joy Bryant · American actress and model, born 1974

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.