Head to head · Boys' names
Jacob vs Josiah
#43 vs #54 in 2025
Jacob is a whisker ahead (#43 vs #54 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Jacob is stepping back from its peak, Josiah is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Josiah 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, Jacob leads 4 measures of 6; Josiah leads 0.
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: Jacob #51, Josiah #413 — Jacob higher
- 1890s: Jacob #76, Josiah #675 — Jacob higher
- 1900s: Jacob #101, Josiah #987 — Jacob higher
- 1910s: Jacob #122, Josiah #1040 — Jacob higher
- 1920s: Jacob #167, Josiah #1429 — Jacob higher
- 1930s: Jacob #227, Josiah #1542 — Jacob higher
- 1940s: Jacob #280, Josiah #1829 — Jacob higher
- 1950s: Jacob #315, Josiah #1787 — Jacob higher
- 1960s: Jacob #344, Josiah #2053 — Jacob higher
- 1970s: Jacob #113, Josiah #1037 — Jacob higher
- 1980s: Jacob #35, Josiah #413 — Jacob higher
- 1990s: Jacob #8, Josiah #276 — Jacob higher
- 2000s: Jacob #1, Josiah #133 — Jacob higher
- 2010s: Jacob #5, Josiah #63 — Jacob higher
- 2020s: Jacob #32, Josiah #51 — Jacob higher
Jacob stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Jacob | Josiah |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #51 | #413 |
| 1890s | #76 | #675 |
| 1900s | #101 | #987 |
| 1910s | #122 | #1040 |
| 1920s | #167 | #1429 |
| 1930s | #227 | #1542 |
| 1940s | #280 | #1829 |
| 1950s | #315 | #1787 |
| 1960s | #344 | #2053 |
| 1970s | #113 | #1037 |
| 1980s | #35 | #413 |
| 1990s | #8 | #276 |
| 2000s | #1 | #133 |
| 2010s | #5 | #63 |
| 2020s | #32 | #51 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Jacob
- Canada#19
- England & Wales#30
- Scotland#45
Josiah
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Jacob
he grasps the heel; one who supplants
Hebrew Ya'aqov. Genesis explains it directly: the child was born holding his twin brother's heel, and the same verb is used later when he takes his brother's birthright. The name is a pun in the text, and the text says so.
Ya'aqov → Iacobus → Jacob
How it traveled
Jacob Grimm set out to describe how German had changed, and along the way described how a whole family of languages had. The law named after him states that a set of consonants shifted in a regular, predictable way as Germanic separated from the rest of Indo-European, which is why English has father where Latin has pater and heart where Latin has cor.
Josiah
Yahweh supports
The Hebrew Yoshiyahu joins the divine name with a verb root usually rendered "supports" and sometimes "heals"; both readings point the same direction and the name is not seriously disputed.
Yoshiyahu → Iosias → Josias → Josiah
How it traveled
The name is Hebrew, Yoshiyahu, borne by the king of Judah who reigned in the late seventh century BC and whose reforms fill two long chapters of the book of Kings. Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible wrote it Iosias, and that form passed through Latin into early English Bibles as Josias.
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
Jacob
JAY-kub
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The spelling and the sound agree completely, and the name is essentially never mispronounced in English.
- Jake — The dominant short form, and a standing name in its own right for many bearers.
- Jay — The initial sound alone; shared very widely and gives no hint of the full name.
- Coby — Built from the back of the name; much less common and rather warmer.
Josiah
joh-SY-uh
Three syllables, stress on the second. Some British speakers voice the middle consonant closer to joh-ZY-uh. Both are long-standing.
- Joe — The default informal short form in English, shared with Joseph and Joshua; stands alone as a given name in its own right.
- Si — An older English clipping, taken from the stressed middle syllable; also used for Simon and Silas.
- Josie — Used affectionately within families, though in the US it is far more often heard as a girl's name from Josephine.
- Siah — A modern informal short form, used the same way Isaiah is shortened.
- Also Jos.
Who has carried each name
Jacob
Jacob Grimm (b. 1785) — Half of the fairy-tale Brothers Grimm
Jacob Elordi (b. 1997) — Euphoria and Saltburn star
Josiah
Josiah Wedgwood (b. 1730) — Pottery magnate — and Charles Darwin's grandfather
Josiah Bartlett (b. 1729) — Signed the Declaration of Independence
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 Jacob if you want…
- a name most people already know#43 in 2025, 6,152 babies that year
- a name past its most crowded yearsJacob is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesJacob is 2 syllables to Josiah's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooJacob is on the national lists of Canada, England & Wales and Scotland
Choose Josiah if you want…
- a name fewer children share#54 in 2025 — josiah will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name with more sound in itJosiah runs 3 syllables, Jacob 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Joe, Si and Josie
- a name that feels very nowJosiah is holding its place on the charts
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
Jacob
Strengths
- It has been in continuous use for as long as there have been written records to check.
- Jake is a short form that works from childhood through to old age without effort.
- It travels: close forms exist in most European languages and are recognized on sight.
To consider
- It was extremely popular very recently, so a child now shares it with many adults.
- Jake is common enough on its own that the full name may rarely get used.
- The record holds girls as well, and the girl is much the smaller side.
Josiah
Strengths
- A documented record stretching back to a biblical king of the seventh century BC, and continuous English use since the Reformation.
- Spelled one way that most Americans already recognize from scripture and from American history books.
- Established short forms in real use — Joe, Si, Siah — so a child has options without inventing any.
To consider
- It sits in a crowded sound family — Isaiah, Jeremiah, Nehemiah — and will occasionally be misheard as one of them, especially over the phone.
- The overtly biblical origin is unmistakable, which some families want and others would rather not signal.
- Josie, the affectionate form, reads strongly feminine in American English, so it may not stick for a boy.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Jacob
12%chance Jacob feels dated by 2040
Jacob 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.
Josiah
40%chance Josiah feels dated by 2040
Josiah 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.
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 Jacob and Josiah in full.
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Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
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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 Jacob and Josiah — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Jacob or Josiah — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Jacob or Josiah?
- Jacob, in 2025: Jacob ranked #43 with 6,152 babies; Josiah ranked #54 with 5,509 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Jacob or Josiah?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Jacob moved down 28 places; Josiah moved down 5 places.
- Which is the older name, Jacob or Josiah?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Jacob and Josiah?
- About 929,000 people named Jacob are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 146,000 people named Josiah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Jacobs or Josiahs in the classroom?
- Jacob will almost certainly be the only one in school. Josiah 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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