Head to head · Boys' names
Josiah vs Logan
#54 vs #53 in 2025
Logan is a whisker ahead (#53 vs #54 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Logan 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, Logan 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: Josiah #413, Logan #368 — Logan higher
- 1890s: Josiah #675, Logan #518 — Logan higher
- 1900s: Josiah #987, Logan #688 — Logan higher
- 1910s: Josiah #1040, Logan #710 — Logan higher
- 1920s: Josiah #1429, Logan #809 — Logan higher
- 1930s: Josiah #1542, Logan #931 — Logan higher
- 1940s: Josiah #1829, Logan #937 — Logan higher
- 1950s: Josiah #1787, Logan #1019 — Logan higher
- 1960s: Josiah #2053, Logan #1024 — Logan higher
- 1970s: Josiah #1037, Logan #828 — Logan higher
- 1980s: Josiah #413, Logan #221 — Logan higher
- 1990s: Josiah #276, Logan #65 — Logan higher
- 2000s: Josiah #133, Logan #25 — Logan higher
- 2010s: Josiah #63, Logan #15 — Logan higher
- 2020s: Josiah #51, Logan #35 — Logan higher
Logan stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Josiah | Logan |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #413 | #368 |
| 1890s | #675 | #518 |
| 1900s | #987 | #688 |
| 1910s | #1040 | #710 |
| 1920s | #1429 | #809 |
| 1930s | #1542 | #931 |
| 1940s | #1829 | #937 |
| 1950s | #1787 | #1019 |
| 1960s | #2053 | #1024 |
| 1970s | #1037 | #828 |
| 1980s | #413 | #221 |
| 1990s | #276 | #65 |
| 2000s | #133 | #25 |
| 2010s | #63 | #15 |
| 2020s | #51 | #35 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Josiah
Not charting outside the US.
Logan
- Canada#20
- Scotland#35
- England & Wales#76
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
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.
Logan
little hollow
From Scottish Gaelic lagan, a diminutive of lag, 'hollow' or 'low-lying place' — the source of the place name Logan in Ayrshire, from which the surname comes. An unrelated Irish surname, Ó Leocháin, was also anglicized as Logan.
lag / lagan (Scottish Gaelic, 'hollow') → Logan (place, Ayrshire) → Logan (Scottish surname) → Logan (given name)
How it traveled
The oldest Logan is a piece of ground: a hollow in Ayrshire in southwest Scotland, whose name gave the local family theirs. Scottish and Ulster-Scots families carried the surname across the Atlantic, where it stuck to the map as well as to people — Mount Logan in the Yukon, Boston's Logan airport, the town of Logan, Utah.
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
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.
Logan
LOH-gan
Two syllables, stress on the first. The spelling gives the sound away, so it survives phone calls, roll calls and coffee cups without correction.
- Lo — The most common clipping, used among family and friends; works equally for a boy or a girl.
- Logie — Follows the Scottish -ie diminutive pattern; affectionate and household-level rather than public.
- Logs — A teammate-and-classmate nickname, informal and usually short-lived.
Who has carried each name
Josiah
Josiah Wedgwood (b. 1730) — Pottery magnate — and Charles Darwin's grandfather
Josiah Bartlett (b. 1729) — Signed the Declaration of Independence
Logan
Logan Lerman (b. 1992) — Percy Jackson star
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 Josiah if you want…
- a name with more sound in itJosiah runs 3 syllables, Logan 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Joe, Si and Josie
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 84% for Logan
Choose Logan if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsLogan is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesLogan is 2 syllables to Josiah's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooLogan is on the national lists of Canada, Scotland and England & Wales
- a name that feels very nowLogan is stepping back from its peak
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
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.
Logan
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds and known everywhere in the English-speaking world — little risk of lifelong correcting.
- Charts in Canada, Scotland and England & Wales as well as the US, so it travels without translation.
- Short and complete on its own; it needs no nickname, though Lo and Logie are there if wanted.
To consider
- It reads male to most people on paper. A girl named Logan will meet forms and rosters that assume otherwise — manageable, but worth knowing in advance.
- The name rose sharply and is now easing back, so it clusters heavily around people in their teens and twenties. It may sound of a particular moment rather than timeless for a while.
- Very little to shorten. If you like a long name with a private nickname inside it, Logan gives you almost nothing to work with.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to 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.
Logan
84%chance Logan feels dated by 2040
Logan is coming down from a big peak (#5 in 2017). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
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 Josiah and Logan in full.
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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 Josiah and Logan — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Josiah or Logan — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Josiah or Logan?
- Logan, in 2025: Logan ranked #53 with 5,576 babies; Josiah ranked #54 with 5,509 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Josiah or Logan?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Josiah moved down 5 places; Logan moved down 37 places.
- Which is the older name, Josiah or Logan?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Josiah and Logan?
- About 146,000 people named Josiah are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 380,000 people named Logan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Josiahs or Logans in the classroom?
- Josiah will almost certainly be the only one in school. Logan 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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