Head to head · Girls' names
Josie vs Lucia
#82 vs #83 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Josie is a whisker ahead (#82 vs #83 in 2025) and both are climbing the charts fast. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
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, Josie leads 4 measures of 6; Lucia 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: Josie #129, Lucia #427 — Josie higher
- 1890s: Josie #170, Lucia #483 — Josie higher
- 1900s: Josie #216, Lucia #508 — Josie higher
- 1910s: Josie #290, Lucia #515 — Josie higher
- 1920s: Josie #327, Lucia #534 — Josie higher
- 1930s: Josie #343, Lucia #512 — Josie higher
- 1940s: Josie #401, Lucia #561 — Josie higher
- 1950s: Josie #590, Lucia #577 — Lucia higher
- 1960s: Josie #712, Lucia #620 — Lucia higher
- 1970s: Josie #712, Lucia #647 — Lucia higher
- 1980s: Josie #710, Lucia #578 — Lucia higher
- 1990s: Josie #467, Lucia #586 — Josie higher
- 2000s: Josie #304, Lucia #402 — Josie higher
- 2010s: Josie #232, Lucia #219 — Lucia higher
- 2020s: Josie #110, Lucia #119 — Josie higher
Josie stood higher in 10 of 15 decades; Josie took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Josie | Lucia |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #129 | #427 |
| 1890s | #170 | #483 |
| 1900s | #216 | #508 |
| 1910s | #290 | #515 |
| 1920s | #327 | #534 |
| 1930s | #343 | #512 |
| 1940s | #401 | #561 |
| 1950s | #590 | #577 |
| 1960s | #712 | #620 |
| 1970s | #712 | #647 |
| 1980s | #710 | #578 |
| 1990s | #467 | #586 |
| 2000s | #304 | #402 |
| 2010s | #232 | #219 |
| 2020s | #110 | #119 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Josie
Not charting outside the US.
Lucia
- Scotland#100
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Josie
"He will add" — from the Hebrew name Yosef, by way of Josephine
The meaning belongs to the root: Hebrew Yosef, understood as "he will add" or "God will add." Josie inherits it through the French feminine Joséphine, and through Spanish Josefina and Josefa, where it also serves as the everyday short form.
Yosef → Joseph → Joséphine → Josephine → Josie
How it traveled
The line starts with Yosef in the Hebrew Bible, reaches Latin and Greek as Ioseph, and spreads across Christian Europe as Joseph. Feminine forms grew from it in the Romance languages — French Joséphine, Spanish Josefina, Italian Giuseppina — and Joséphine gained enormous currency in France after Napoleon's first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais, was crowned empress in the early nineteenth century.
Lucia
Light
From Latin lux, lucis, "light", by way of the Roman masculine name Lucius.
Lucius → Lucia → Lucía → Lucy
How it traveled
The name begins in Rome as Lucia, the feminine of Lucius, one of the oldest and most common Roman first names; Roman writers connected Lucius with children born at first light. Christianity carried it far past the empire through Saint Lucy of Syracuse, martyred in the early fourth century, whose feast on the thirteenth of December became a candle festival in Italy and, remarkably, in Sweden and Norway.
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
Josie
JOH-zee
A voiced middle consonant is the usual American pronunciation; JOH-see is heard too, and both pass without comment. Spanish speakers reading the first syllables may reach for José at first glance.
- Josie — Already a short form of Josephine, and now most often the full legal name rather than a nickname.
- Jo — The standard further shortening; also a standalone given name in its own right, and shared with Joanna, Joan and Josephine.
- Josephine — Used in reverse — some families register the long form and use Josie daily, keeping a formal option in hand.
- Joey — Informal, and used for both sexes in American English, most often heard within families.
Lucia
loo-SEE-ah (or loo-CHEE-ah)
English and Spanish speakers generally say loo-SEE-ah; Italian gives loo-CHEE-ah, and some English speakers say LOO-shah. All three are correct for the name — worth deciding which one is yours, since strangers will guess.
- Lucy — The English cousin of the name, used as a short form and also standing entirely on its own as a given name.
- Lu — Informal and very short; works in English, Spanish and Portuguese households alike.
- Lulu — Playful and informal, common in childhood; also independently a given name in its own right.
- Luci — A written short form used in notes and signatures; sometimes spelled Lucy or Lucie.
- Also Lucita.
Who has carried each name
Josie
No documented entry for Josie yet.
Lucia
Lucia Berlin (b. 1936) — Rediscovered master of the American short story
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 Josie if you want…
On the measures here, the records do not separate Josie from Lucia.
Choose Lucia if you want…
- a name on the way upup 77 places on the charts in five years
- a name that charts abroad tooLucia is on the national lists of Scotland
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
Josie
Strengths
- Both a nickname and a full name, so it works on a birth certificate and needs no shortening — while Josephine remains available as a formal expansion.
- A continuous presence in American records from the beginning of national name-keeping, so it reads as familiar rather than newly coined.
- Spelled the way it sounds for English speakers, and short enough to write early.
To consider
- It is rising, not resting. A name that feels uncommon now can be noticeably more common by the time a child reaches middle school.
- Josey, Josi and Josey-with-a-y all circulate, so expect to spell it aloud occasionally — though the -ie ending is the one most people default to.
- It shares its Jo- opening with Joanna, Joan, Jolene and Joy, which can mean a beat of clarification in a room where several are present.
Lucia
Strengths
- Spelled the same way in Latin, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Swedish, so it travels without translation or correction.
- A continuous record in American statistics from the very start of that record, with no gap and no revival needed.
- Comes with ready-made short forms — Lucy, Lu, Lulu — that families have used for generations.
To consider
- The middle syllable is genuinely unsettled in American English: loo-SEE-ah, loo-CHEE-ah and LOO-shah all circulate, so expect to correct people or to let it vary.
- The Spanish form carries an accent, Lucía, and that mark will be dropped by half the forms she fills out and added by the other half.
- It is on the way up rather than down, so it will feel less uncommon over the years than it does at the moment.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
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 Josie and Lucia 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 Josie and Lucia?
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
- Distinctly American names
- America's top 100 names right now
- Names at their all-time peak, right now
- Two-syllable names, the American default
- Five-letter names, the comfortable middle
- all guides
Every list here names both Josie and Lucia — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Josie or Lucia — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Josie or Lucia?
- Josie, in 2025: Josie ranked #82 with 3,021 babies; Lucia ranked #83 with 3,012 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Josie or Lucia?
- Lucia. Over the last five years Josie moved up 52 places; Lucia moved up 77 places.
- Which is the older name, Josie or Lucia?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Josie and Lucia?
- About 57,000 people named Josie are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 52,000 people named Lucia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Josies or Lucias in the classroom?
- Josie will almost certainly be the only one in school. Lucia 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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