Jose
Feminine · “he will add”
Jose is given to boys far more often — 592,512 boys against 4,220 girls since 1880. See Jose as a boy name
Jose is the Spanish and Portuguese Joseph, and one of the most used names in the Spanish-speaking world. On American paperwork it usually appears stripped of its accent, and that small loss is a whole story in itself: a name crossing between two systems of writing and leaving one mark behind.
How old is the name Jose?
Jose first appears in US birth records in 1891 — 134 years ago. The typical Jose alive today was born around 1980, making them about 45 years old. About 3,500 people named Jose are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jose most popular?
Jose peaked in 1930, reaching #1101 nationally. See the whole 1930 chart.
Where it comes from
From Yosef to Jose
The story of Jose
Latin Iosephus gave Old Spanish Josep, and Spanish then dropped the final consonant and settled on Jose. The letter j did the interesting part. In medieval Spanish the sound written j or x was the sh of English ship, so the name was once said something like sho-SEP; between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that sound moved back into the throat, becoming the h Spanish uses now, and the spelling stayed exactly where it was. Portuguese took the same name and went the other way, softening the front to a zh and nasalising the end. Galician still writes it Xose, preserving the older sound in its older letter.
Meaning
he will add
From the Hebrew Yosef, through Greek Ioseph and Latin Iosephus into Spanish. The reading has not been seriously disputed.
How the name formed
- Yosef
- Ioseph
- Iosephus
- Josep
- Jose
Related forms: Joseph · Giuseppe · Josef · Josep · Xose · Yosef
Pronouncing Jose
ho-SEH
Two syllables with the weight at the back and a throaty h at the front. Portuguese says it closer to zhoo-ZEH. American English generally settles on hoh-ZAY, which no Spanish speaker would use but which every Jose in the country answers to.
Nicknames for Jose
High
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
- 1891
- Most girls named
- 1990113 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1101reached in 1930
- Change vs 2022
- −25.0%6 in 2024, from 8
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.
Jose in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Joseph in English — same name
- Giuseppe in Italian — same name
- Josef in German — same name
- Josep in Catalan — same name
- Xose in Galician — spelling variant
- Yosef in Hebrew — transliteration
Joses among us
people named Jose are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Jose sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is understood on sight across the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world and needs no translation in either.
- It carries a settled Spanish short form, Pepe, and an English one, Joe, so the same person can be addressed naturally in both languages.
- Four letters, two syllables, no silent letters in any language that uses it.
- It has an unbroken run in American records from the first year names were counted.
- Written without its accent, as American forms usually leave it, the stress drifts to the front and readers who do not know the name mispronounce it.
- It is recorded for a small number of girls, usually inside a compound such as Maria Jose, so the spelling alone does not settle who is meant.
- In many Spanish-speaking families the name is expected as a compound, Jose Luis or Jose Maria, and standing alone it can read as incomplete.
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What they receive
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Jose
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Joses are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,500 people named Jose are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jose in 2025?
- Jose is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Jose with classmates?
- Jose will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More J names
The most-given names starting with J, all years combined.
Jennifer#586 · Jessica#665 · Janet#2778 · Julie#872 · Joyce#1071 · Joan#1085 · Julia#131 · Jean#2117
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jose? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jose and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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