Jo
Masculine · “Hebrew Yosef”
Jo is given to girls far more often — 179,057 girls against 1,854 boys since 1880. See Jo as a girl name
Joe is the English word for anybody. An average Joe, a good Joe, Joe Public, Joe Blow, GI Joe, a cup of joe. A first name that has been drafted into the language as a common noun meaning an ordinary man, and it is not the only one.
How old is the name Jo?
Jo first appears in US birth records in 1911 — 114 years ago. The typical Jo alive today was born around 1955, making them about 70 years old. About 1,100 people named Jo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jo most popular?
Jo peaked in 1935, reaching #1123 nationally. Today it ranks #8910, 7,787 places below that high. See the whole 1935 chart.
Jo appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Yosef to Jo
The story of Jo
English has a habit of promoting common first names into common nouns, and the promoted names are always the commonest ones of their period. Jack gives a jack for lifting a car, a jackknife, a jack of all trades, hijack and jackpot; it is the medieval English word for a man of no particular importance. Tom gives tomcat, tomboy, tomfoolery and peeping Tom. Joe gives the average Joe and a cup of joe. Sheila is the Australian word for a woman and Bruce nearly the word for a man. Dick meant a fellow. Nancy, Molly and Jenny all became nouns of one kind or another, and a jenny is still a female donkey and a spinning machine. The process needs saturation: a name has to be so common that it can stand for anyone, and only a handful of names in any century get there.
Meaning
Hebrew Yosef, may he add
Jo is a short form of Joseph, from Hebrew Yosef, understood in Genesis as may Yah add another son. It also serves as a short form of Jonathan, Joel and, for women, Joanna and Josephine. The -e spelling is commoner for men in American use; the bare Jo is more often female. The male peak is 1935.
How the name formed
- Yosef
- Joseph
- Jo
Related forms: Joe · Yosef
Pronouncing Jo
JOH
One syllable. Jo and Joe are homophones. The -e spelling is the male default in American use and the bare Jo is more often female.
Nicknames for Jo
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1911
- Most boys named
- 196040 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1123reached in 1935
- Change vs 2023
- −11.1%8 in 2025, from 9
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Jo in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Joe in English — spelling variant
- Yosef in Hebrew — related form
Jos among us
people named Jo are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 213,510 born in 2025 was named Jo
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Calvert test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jo's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Calvert climbed just as high around 1914, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Calvert's path sketches the road Jo is walking now.
Jo 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Jo beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jo in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two letters and one syllable, as short as a name can be.
- Joseph and Jonathan are both available as formal versions.
- It is universally understood in English.
- Without the e it reads as female to most Americans.
- It reads as a short form rather than a full name.
- The 1935 peak places it in the mid-century.
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Jo
Masculine · #8910 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Jo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jo in 2025?
- Jo ranks #8910 among US boy names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jo?
- About 1 in every 213,510 US boys born in 2025 was named Jo — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jo with classmates?
- Jo will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jo
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Davie#8910 · Ned#8910 · Darious#8910 · Alois#8910 · Len#8910 · Barton#8910 · Desmon#8910 · Winfield#8910
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jo? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jo and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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