Head to head · Boys' names
Angel vs Joshua
#67 vs #66 in 2025
Joshua is a whisker ahead (#66 vs #67 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Joshua is stepping back from its peak, Angel is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Angel has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Joshua leads 5 measures of 6; Angel leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Angel #755, Joshua #242 — Joshua higher
- 1890s: Angel #979, Joshua #345 — Joshua higher
- 1900s: Angel #997, Joshua #460 — Joshua higher
- 1910s: Angel #899, Joshua #500 — Joshua higher
- 1920s: Angel #618, Joshua #589 — Joshua higher
- 1930s: Angel #567, Joshua #609 — Angel higher
- 1940s: Angel #550, Joshua #597 — Angel higher
- 1950s: Angel #361, Joshua #501 — Angel higher
- 1960s: Angel #279, Joshua #361 — Angel higher
- 1970s: Angel #205, Joshua #44 — Joshua higher
- 1980s: Angel #170, Joshua #5 — Joshua higher
- 1990s: Angel #103, Joshua #4 — Joshua higher
- 2000s: Angel #44, Joshua #4 — Joshua higher
- 2010s: Angel #64, Joshua #28 — Joshua higher
- 2020s: Angel #66, Joshua #59 — Joshua higher
Joshua stood higher in 11 of 15 decades; Joshua has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Angel | Joshua |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #755 | #242 |
| 1890s | #979 | #345 |
| 1900s | #997 | #460 |
| 1910s | #899 | #500 |
| 1920s | #618 | #589 |
| 1930s | #567 | #609 |
| 1940s | #550 | #597 |
| 1950s | #361 | #501 |
| 1960s | #279 | #361 |
| 1970s | #205 | #44 |
| 1980s | #170 | #5 |
| 1990s | #103 | #4 |
| 2000s | #44 | #4 |
| 2010s | #64 | #28 |
| 2020s | #66 | #59 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Angel
Not charting outside the US.
Joshua
- England & Wales#50
- Scotland#75
- Canada#83
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Angel
messenger
From Greek angelos, 'messenger', by way of Latin angelus. The religious sense — a divine messenger — grew out of that ordinary word.
angelos → angelus → Ángel → Angel
How it traveled
The Greek angelos meant simply a messenger, someone sent with news, before the translators of the Hebrew Bible into Greek used it for the winged messengers of God and fixed the sense we know now. Latin took it as angelus, and from there it passed into the Romance languages: Ángel in Spanish, Angelo in Italian, Ange in French, alongside Angelos in Greek and Angel in Bulgarian.
Joshua
the Lord is salvation
Yehoshua joins a short form of the divine name with a root about saving or delivering: the Lord saves, or the Lord is salvation. The shortened Hebrew form is Yeshua, which is what Greek transliterated as Iesous. The derivation is not disputed anywhere, and it is the reason the Gospel of Matthew explains the name — the text expects readers to hear the meaning in it.
Hoshea → Yehoshua → Iesous → Joshua
How it traveled
The man in the book of Joshua is Moses' successor, and the text records a detail that is easy to skim past: he was called Hoshea, and Moses renamed him Yehoshua, adding the divine element. Renaming at a turning point is a pattern in those books — Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel — and this is one of them.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Angel
AYN-jul
In Spanish the accented Ángel is AHN-hel, with stress on the first syllable and an h-like g. Families who use both languages often use both pronunciations for the same child.
- Angelito — Spanish diminutive, affectionate and family-level rather than formal.
- Ange — Clipped English short form; also a standalone given name in French.
- Angie — Informal; more often attached to Angela or Angelina, and used for girls more than boys.
- Lito — Heard in Spanish-speaking families as a shortening of Angelito.
Joshua
JOSH-oo-uh
JOSH-oo-uh, three syllables, stress at the front. Hebrew puts the weight at the end and sounds every syllable, yeh-ho-SHOO-ah. The English name has lost a syllable and moved the stress, which is ordinary for a name this old in this language.
- Josh — The front clipped, and a complete working name; what nearly every Joshua is called.
- Joss — A softer clipping of the same front, more common in Britain than in America.
- Shua — The back taken alone, which is the Hebrew habit and sounds like a different name entirely.
Who has carried each name
Angel
No documented entry for Angel yet.
Joshua
Joshua Bassett (b. 2000) — High School Musical: The Musical star
Joshua Jackson (b. 1978) — Dawson's Creek's Pacey
Joshua Reynolds (b. 1723) — 18th-century England's master portrait painter
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Angel if you want…
- a name on the way upup 9 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesAngel is 2 syllables to Joshua's 3
- a newer arrivalAngel entered the US charts in 1888
- a name that feels very nowAngel is holding its place on the charts
Choose Joshua if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsJoshua is stepping back from its peak
- a name with more sound in itJoshua runs 3 syllables, Angel 2
- a name that charts abroad tooJoshua is on the national lists of England & Wales, Scotland and Canada
- a long American recordJoshua was already in use when US records began in 1880
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Angel
Strengths
- Works unchanged in English and Spanish — one spelling, no translation needed, though the pronunciation shifts.
- The meaning is transparent to almost everyone, with no need to explain it.
- A long, unbroken record in American use rather than a recent arrival, and no sign of dropping away.
To consider
- Two live pronunciations, AYN-jul and AHN-hel, means some introductions will need a correction — and which one a stranger reaches for often depends on where you are.
- The word is also a common endearment in English, which can invite the obvious jokes at school and the obvious puns on greeting cards for life.
- This spelling goes overwhelmingly to boys in the United States, so a girl named Angel will meet paperwork and teachers that assume otherwise — worth knowing, not worth fearing.
Joshua
Strengths
- The meaning is one of the clearest and most consequential in the whole Hebrew name stock.
- Josh is a complete working short form that needs no explanation anywhere.
- It is the same name as Jesus, which is a genuinely remarkable thing to be able to say and very few people know.
To consider
- A very great many people carry it, so a Joshua will rarely be the only one in a room of a certain age.
- It is closely tied to one recent American generation and dates a person fairly precisely.
- Josh arrives immediately and the full name is rarely used, which matters to families who chose it for the full name.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Angel
40%chance Angel feels dated by 2040
Angel sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
Joshua
12%chance Joshua feels dated by 2040
Joshua has held the top-100 across 6 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Angel and Joshua in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Angel and Joshua?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Angel and Joshua — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Angel or Joshua — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Angel or Joshua?
- Joshua, in 2025: Joshua ranked #66 with 4,773 babies; Angel ranked #67 with 4,757 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Angel or Joshua?
- Angel. Over the last five years Angel moved up 9 places; Joshua moved down 13 places.
- Which is the older name, Angel or Joshua?
- Angel entered the US charts in 1888; Joshua was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Joshua is the older name.
- How many people are named Angel and Joshua?
- About 256,000 people named Angel are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 1,195,000 people named Joshua are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Angels or Joshuas in the classroom?
- Angel will almost certainly be the only one in school. Joshua will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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