Hebrew Yochanan — god is gracious. The Baptist and the Evangelist; the most common male name in Western history.
John ranks 23rd among American boys in 2025, with 8,033 born that year. Its best year was 1947, when 88,527 babies were given the name, ranking 3rd. The typical living American called John is about 63 years old today. It is relatively most common in Alabama, where it accounts for 0.86% of births.
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state name files, 2025 release, and the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales. Etymology researched and written by our editors. Living-population and median-age figures are our own estimates, described in the methodology.