Juana
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Meaning
traditionally God is gracious (feminine form of Juan)
Goes by Juanita, Nita. See all nicknames
The story
Juana is Juan’s Spanish feminine counterpart, in the John family that reaches back to Hebrew Yoḥanan, conventionally rendered "God is gracious." Queen Juana of Castile also held the crowns of Aragón and Navarra, yet was confined at Tordesillas while her father and son exercised authority. Another bearer’s curiosity is wonderfully particular: the writer and nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz defended her pursuit of study in her 1691 Respuesta a sor Filotea. Religious life, she explained, had not put an end to her desire to learn. Even cooking gave her something to investigate: she described an egg holding together and frying in oil, yet coming apart in syrup. Ordinary kitchen work entered the same letter in which she defended her intellectual life. Then came the scholarly mischief: had Aristotle done some cooking, she suggested, he would have written considerably more. An egg was enough to bring a philosopher into the kitchen.
Juana across languages
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
Juana in song
Juana la Cubana
Fito Olivares
Fito Olivares's biggest hit and a cumbia standard at Mexican family parties, later recorded by dozens of other groups.
How popular is Juana around the world?
In the United States, 1,082 babies were named Juana between 2020 and 2025. In Montevideo, 68 girls named Juana were born in 2011, spelling variants counted together.
Juana is on the official records of the United States, Montevideo, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Mexico City, Brazil, Canada, England and Wales and France.
United States
1 in 20,000
In the United States, 1,082 babies were named Juana between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Juana peaked in the 1900s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure. In US birth records Juana has stayed between 1,082 and 2,368 births in every decade since the 1950s: a name everyone knows and few children get.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Montevideo City
1 in 3502011
In Montevideo, 68 girls named Juana were born in 2011, spelling variants counted together.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
Spain
1 in 440
In Spain, 101,137 residents are named Juana, the 44th most common name among women, with a mean age of 68.9 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Argentina
1 in 590
In Argentina, 1,115 newborns were given the name Juana in 2024.
share of that year’s name registrations
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Chile
1 in 7,700
In Chile, 23 girls were registered as Juana in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.
share of that year’s name registrations
First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021
Mexico City City
1 in 12,000
In Mexico City, there were 10 registrations of Juana in 2022.
share of that year’s registrations in the city
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023 (1 registration through 3 Mar) is excluded as partial. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Brazil
1 in 67,000
At the 2022 census, 3,113 people in Brazil were named Juana, ranked 3,785th, with a median age of 42.
Among people named Juana living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1980s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 128 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Canada
1 in 73,000
In Canada, 5 girls named Juana were born in 2024, ranked 3,457th among girls that year.
The count never rose above 8 in a year, too few to chart.
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
England and Wales
1 in 98,000
In England and Wales, 6 girls named Juana were born in 2025, ranked 3,705th among girls that year.
The count never rose above 6 in a year, too few to chart.
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
France
1 in 130,000
In France, about 5 girls named Juana were born in 2025, ranked 5,446th among girls that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Austria
last on record 2024
Juana is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
South Australia
last on record 2016
Juana is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Puerto Rico, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Juana
People given the name Juana in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1960 to 2009. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Juana deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Juana 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 Juana fits with your family’s names and surname.
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