How common is the surname Joy?

13,413 people in the United States had the surname Joy in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 23,018 Americans. It ranked 2,684th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Joy?

In the 2010 Census, 78% of people named Joy identified as white (not Hispanic), and 8.4% as Black (not Hispanic).

Who is the most famous person named Joy?

Anya Taylor-Joy, American actress and model (born 1996), followed by Bill Joy.

Where is the surname Joy most common?

Wikidata records people named Joy in the United States and Australia.

How do you pronounce Joy?

Joy is /d͡ʒɔɪ/, one syllable.

Is the surname Joy getting more or less common?

More common. 12,741 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 13,413 in 2010, up 5.3%.

Is Joy also a first name?

Yes. Joy is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Joy

A surname, carried by 13,413 people in the United States.

Pronounced /d͡ʒɔɪ/ 1 syllable Soundex J000 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Joy is more common than 98.3% of them.

Origin

From the noun joy, first used by Puritans in the 17th century.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 13,413 people named Joy in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 23,018 Americans. That is up 5.3% since 2000, when the Census counted 12,741.

#2,684

rank among US surnames

13,413

people in 2010

4.5

per 100,000 Americans

+5.3%

change since 2000 (was #2,607)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#2,675	Newberry	13,482	22,901
#2,677	Trinidad	13,474	22,914
#2,678	Dowdy	13,468	22,924
#2,679	Guajardo	13,438	22,976
#2,680	Hook	13,437	22,977
#2,682	Scherer	13,421	23,005
#2,683	Darden	13,414	23,017

Who is named Joy

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

78% of people named Joy identified as white (not Hispanic), 8.4% as Black (not Hispanic) and 7.8% as Asian and Pacific Islander.

White (not Hispanic) 78%
Black (not Hispanic) 8.4%
Asian and Pacific Islander 7.8%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.8%
Two or more races 2.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Joys

8 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Anya Taylor-Joy
American actress and model (born 1996)
Bill Joy
American computer scientist, born 1954
Leatrice Joy
American actress (1893-1985)
Melanie Joy
American psychologist, born 1966
Lisa Joy
American screenwriter and executive producer, born 1972
Hélène Joy
Australian actress, born 1978
Ernest Joy
Actor (1878-1924)
Megan Joy
American singer, born 1985

Notable Joys come mostly from the United States (7) and Australia (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Joy

Joy has the Soundex code J000, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code J000.

Questions

Where does the surname Joy come from?: From the noun joy, first used by Puritans in the 17th century.
How common is the surname Joy?: 13,413 people in the United States had the surname Joy in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 23,018 Americans. It ranked 2,684th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Joy?: In the 2010 Census, 78% of people named Joy identified as white (not Hispanic), and 8.4% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Joy?: Anya Taylor-Joy, American actress and model (born 1996), followed by Bill Joy.
Where is the surname Joy most common?: Wikidata records people named Joy in the United States and Australia.
How do you pronounce Joy?: Joy is /d͡ʒɔɪ/, one syllable.
Is the surname Joy getting more or less common?: More common. 12,741 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 13,413 in 2010, up 5.3%.
Is Joy also a first name?: Yes. Joy is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.