Head to head · Girls' names
Delilah vs Josephine
#51 vs #53 in 2025
Delilah is a whisker ahead (#51 vs #53 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Delilah is climbing the charts fast, Josephine is back after a long quiet spell. On momentum, Josephine 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, Josephine leads 3 measures of 6; Delilah leads 2.
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: Delilah #571, Josephine #48 — Josephine higher
- 1890s: Delilah #660, Josephine #48 — Josephine higher
- 1900s: Delilah #850, Josephine #38 — Josephine higher
- 1910s: Delilah #846, Josephine #25 — Josephine higher
- 1920s: Delilah #961, Josephine #35 — Josephine higher
- 1930s: Delilah #958, Josephine #68 — Josephine higher
- 1940s: Delilah #986, Josephine #116 — Josephine higher
- 1950s: Delilah #754, Josephine #196 — Josephine higher
- 1960s: Delilah #1303, Josephine #297 — Josephine higher
- 1970s: Delilah #913, Josephine #412 — Josephine higher
- 1980s: Delilah #885, Josephine #459 — Josephine higher
- 1990s: Delilah #1091, Josephine #385 — Josephine higher
- 2000s: Delilah #506, Josephine #241 — Josephine higher
- 2010s: Delilah #129, Josephine #137 — Delilah higher
- 2020s: Delilah #57, Josephine #67 — Delilah higher
Josephine stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Delilah has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Delilah | Josephine |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #571 | #48 |
| 1890s | #660 | #48 |
| 1900s | #850 | #38 |
| 1910s | #846 | #25 |
| 1920s | #961 | #35 |
| 1930s | #958 | #68 |
| 1940s | #986 | #116 |
| 1950s | #754 | #196 |
| 1960s | #1303 | #297 |
| 1970s | #913 | #412 |
| 1980s | #885 | #459 |
| 1990s | #1091 | #385 |
| 2000s | #506 | #241 |
| 2010s | #129 | #137 |
| 2020s | #57 | #67 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Delilah
- England & Wales#33
Josephine
- Canada#89
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Delilah
Most often read as "delicate" or "she who weakened"
The usual reading traces the name to the Hebrew root d-l-l, "to be low, to hang down, to be weak" — hence "delicate," or, read against the Samson story, "she who weakened him." A second serious reading connects it instead to Hebrew laylah, "night." Neither has pushed the other out.
Delilah (Hebrew) → Dalida (Greek, Septuagint) → Dalila (Latin, Vulgate) → Delilah (English)
How it traveled
The name is Hebrew and reaches English through scripture: Judges 16 in the Hebrew Bible, then Dalida in the Greek of the Septuagint and Dalila in the Latin Vulgate. English Bibles settled on Delilah, and that spelling is the one that stuck in the language, even while the story kept most parents from using it.
Josephine
he will add
Joseph is a Hebrew sentence about God adding another son, and the feminine is French. The name arrived in English use in the early nineteenth century, went to the top of the American charts before the First World War, disappeared for three generations and has now come back — it is one of the clearest examples of the hundred-year rule, by which a name becomes usable again once nobody's grandmother has it.
a Hebrew sentence about a son being added → French builds the feminine Josephine → an empress makes it fashionable across Europe → an American peak before the First World War → back in the top hundred a century later
How it traveled
She had left America at nineteen because there was no work for a Black performer that did not humiliate her, and became a star in Paris within a year. During the war she carried messages, worked for the Free French and was decorated afterwards.
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
Delilah
dih-LY-lah
Three syllables with the stress on the middle one, which carries the long i of "my." English speakers say it correctly on sight; the Spanish, French and Italian Dalila puts the stress in the same place but uses an ee sound: dah-LEE-lah.
- Lila — The most-used short form, and a standalone given name in its own right in the US.
- Lilah — Same short form with the spelling pulled from the full name; also used on its own.
- Dee — Informal, family-and-friends use; an old workhorse for any D name.
- Della — Informal, and an established given name of its own from an older generation.
- Also Lily, Didi.
Josephine
JO-suh-feen
Three syllables with the stress at the front and a secondary one at the back. French puts the weight on the last syllable, which some American families keep.
- Josie — The dominant short form and thoroughly current.
- Jo — Shorter and unisex, with a literary history of its own.
- Posy — An English nursery form, rare and rather charming.
Who has carried each name
Delilah
No documented entry for Delilah yet.
Josephine
Josephine Baker (b. 1906) — Jazz Age superstar who became a French Resistance agent in WWII
Josephine Cochrane (b. 1839) — Invented the dishwasher
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 Delilah if you want…
- plenty of nickname options6 recorded short forms — Lila, Lilah and Dee
- a name that feels very nowDelilah is climbing the charts fast
Choose Josephine if you want…
- a name on the way upup 34 places on the charts in five years
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 52% for Delilah
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
Delilah
Strengths
- A spelling nobody has to be taught — it is the form printed in English Bibles for four centuries.
- Several short forms already in circulation: Lila, Lilah, Dee, Della.
- Travels well: recognized across Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese as Dalila, and in use in England and Wales too.
To consider
- The Samson story is one of betrayal, and some people — particularly churchgoing relatives — will mention it. Others know only the songs, or nothing at all.
- "Hey There Delilah" has been sung at every Delilah of the last two decades, and probably will be for a while yet.
- Dalila and Delila are both real spellings elsewhere, so expect the occasional correction, and Lila as a nickname doubles as a very common name on its own.
Josephine
Strengths
- Josie and Jo are both available and both are thoroughly current.
- It is elegant and long on paper with plain short forms for daily use.
- It works without alteration across most of Europe.
To consider
- It is rising fast, so it will be commoner among her contemporaries than in the record.
- Three syllables and a French ending is a formal name for a small child.
- Josephine and Josefina will both be written, depending on who is listening.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Delilah
52%chance Delilah feels dated by 2040
Delilah is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
Josephine
12%chance Josephine feels dated by 2040
Josephine has held the top-100 across 7 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 Delilah and Josephine 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
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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 Delilah and Josephine — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Delilah or Josephine — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Delilah or Josephine?
- Delilah, in 2025: Delilah ranked #51 with 4,137 babies; Josephine ranked #53 with 4,126 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Delilah or Josephine?
- Josephine. Over the last five years Delilah moved up 19 places; Josephine moved up 34 places.
- Which is the older name, Delilah or Josephine?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Delilah and Josephine?
- About 63,500 people named Delilah are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 123,000 people named Josephine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Delilahs or Josephines in the classroom?
- Delilah will almost certainly be the only one in school. Josephine 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
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