Joy

English word name

"joy"

Joy Origin and Meaning

The name Joy is a girl's name of English origin meaning "joy".

Joy is from an older generation of word names, which also included Merry, Bliss, and Glory -- all of which exert a certain amount of personality pressure on a child. However, Joy, like Grace, Hope, and Rose, has crossed more into name-territory than other word choices, which lightens some of that pressure.

Joy began to be used as a name by the seventeenth century Puritans, with the idea of "being joyful in the Lord." It came into more general use in the late nineteenth central, part of the revival of virtue names. Her high point was in 1974, when she reached Number 109 on the popular names charts. Joy has also been often used as a middle name. Two recent bearers: comedian/TV personality Joy Behar and Joy Mangano, the inventor whose life was the basis of Oscar-nominated biopic Joy, starring Jennifer Lawrence.

Joy Rank in US Top 1000

# 455 in the US

Joy Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 666 on Nameberry

Popularity of the name Joy

• 455 US 2023
• 666 Nameberry 2025
• 280 Future 2028
• 517 England 2023
• 82 France 2023
• 483 Germany 2016
• 158 Netherlands 2015
• 203 Switzerland 2019

20 Names Similar to Joy

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Joy.

• Holly
• May
• Carrie
• Hope
• Faith
• Julie
• April
• Heather
• Wendy
• Lizzie
• Carolina
• Jayne
• Cindy
• Rosa
• Cassie
• Ginny
• Katie
• Rita
• Tiffany
• Amy

Famous People Named Joy

• Joy Behar (born Josephina Victoria Occhiuto) American talk show host
• Joy Philbin American TV personality and wife of talk show host Regis Philbin
• Joy Lynn Fawcett American soccer player
• Joy Elizabeth Williams American singer,songwriter of The Civil Wars
• Joy Harjo American poet
• Joy Adamson (born Friederike Victoria Gessner) Czech,British author and naturalist
• Joy Lauren (born Lauren Joy Jorgensen) American actress
• (Marilyn) Joy Quigley New Zealand politician
• Joy Ann Smith Canadian politician
• Joy Charity Enriquez American singer and actress
• Joy Uche Angela Ogwu Nigerian diplomat
• Joy Giovanni American actress, model and pro wrestler
• Joy Annabelle Womack American ballerina
• Joy Garnett Canadian,American artist
• Joy Rae Brown birth name of Joi Lansing, American actress
• (Helen) Joy Davidman American poet; wife of novelist C.S. Lewis
• Joy Bryant American model and actress
• Joy stage name of Park Sooyoung; singer, dancer, and member of South Korean girl group Red Velvet
• Joy Anna Duggar (b. 1997), 9th child (5th daughter) of the reality TV's Duggar family
• Joy Anna Willis (b. 2006), 10th child (7th daughter) of the family band, The Willis Clan
• Joy Uygur (b. 2012) daughter of TV personality Cenk Uygur
• Joy (b. 2017) daughter of model Jessica Michibata
• Joy Mangano (b. 1956) American inventor & entrepreneur the 2015 film "Joy" was based on her

The name Joy in Pop Culture

• Joy Mercer character on TV's "House of Anubis"
• Joy character in the Wayside School series by Louis Sachar
• Nurse Joy character from Pokemon video game series
• Joy character from Disney's "Inside Out"
• Joy Birch character in 2013 film "Prisoners'
• Joy Ruth Keenan birth name of Dr. Temperance Brennan, main character on TV series "Bones"
• Rachel Joy Cuddy character on TV's "House, MD"
• Joy "Ma" Newsome character in Emma Donohughe's novel/film, "Room"
• "Joy " 2015 film
• "Joy Luck Club " 1993 film
• Joy McNally character in the 2008 romantic comedy film "What Happens in Vegas" played by Cameron Diaz
• JOY acronym that stands for , JESUS first...OTHERS second...YOURSELF last!