Johnson
Meaning
surname meaning 'son of John' (Hebrew, 'God is gracious')
Johnson around the world
One shared root links 47 names across 10 languages.
Shared root: from Hebrew Yochanan "God is gracious", carried through Greek Ioannes and Latin Iohannes into nearly every European language
The constellation
37 more branches of this family
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Johnson peaked in the 1990s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
680 people · the #10,817 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 333,333 · median age 41
Among people named Johnson living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1990s than in any other decade.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Johnson
Most people given the name Johnson in the United States were born between 1970 and 2009. The Johnson you meet today is most often in his 20s or 30s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Johnson deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Johnson truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Johnson fits with your family’s names and surname.
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