Josefa
Feminine · “Hebrew Yosef”
Spanish abolished ph by decree. The Real Academia's orthographic reforms of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries replaced ph with f, th with t, and the Greek ch with c or qu, so that filosofia, teatro and cristiano look nothing like their English cousins. Josefa is Joseph after a spelling reform English never had.
How old is the name Josefa?
Josefa first appears in US birth records in 1881 — 144 years ago. The typical Josefa alive today was born around 1934, making them about 91 years old. About 1,800 people named Josefa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Josefa most popular?
Josefa peaked in 1890, reaching #548 nationally. Today it ranks #8362, 7,814 places below that high. See the whole 1890 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yosef to Josefa
The story of Josefa
Spanish is one of the few major European languages to have systematically reformed its spelling, and it did so through an academy with the authority to do it. Founded in 1713, the Real Academia issued successive orthographies that removed the ph, th and rh of Greek loanwords, dropped silent letters, and regularised the use of b, v, j and g. The result is a language whose spelling is close to phonetic and whose learned vocabulary looks nothing like English's, though both borrowed the same words from the same sources. English has no academy and never reformed. Webster's American changes were the closest attempt and they altered a few dozen words. So English still writes philosophy with a Greek spelling and Spanish writes filosofia, and the difference is a matter of institutions rather than of language.
Meaning
Hebrew Yosef, may Yah add
The Spanish feminine of Jose, from Hebrew Yosef, may he add. The f in place of the English ph reflects Spanish orthographic reform: the Real Academia Espanola progressively replaced Greek-derived spellings with phonetic ones from 1726 onward. The name is one of the most used women's names in nineteenth-century Spain and Latin America. It peaks in the American data in 1890.
How the name formed
- Yosef
- Josephus
- Josefa
Related forms: Josefa · Josefa · Josephe
Pronouncing Josefa
hoh-SEH-fah
Three syllables, stress on the second. The J is the Spanish jota, made at the back of the throat. English speakers say joh-SEE-fah or joh-SEF-ah, giving the J an English value.
Nicknames for Josefa
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
- 1881
- Most girls named
- 192584 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #548reached in 1890
- Change vs 2022
- −7.7%12 in 2025, from 13
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.
Josefa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Josefa in Spanish — same name
- Josefa in Portuguese — same name
- Josephe in French — same name
Josefas among us
people named Josefa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 133,939 born in 2025 was named Josefa
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Josefa 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
Josefa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Josefa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Hebrew meaning is settled and the biblical figure is major.
- Pepa and Fina are two very different short forms.
- The spelling is phonetically regular in Spanish.
- English speakers pronounce the initial letter quite differently.
- The short forms bear little visible relation to the full name.
- It reads as traditional and nineteenth century in Spanish-speaking families.
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Josefa
Feminine · #8362 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Josefas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Josefa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Josefa in 2025?
- Josefa ranks #8362 among US girl names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Josefa?
- About 1 in every 133,939 US girls born in 2025 was named Josefa — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Josefa with classmates?
- Josefa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Josefa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lona#8362 · Peggy#8362 · Leda#8362 · Margarette#8362 · Rella#8362 · Evalena#8362 · Vashti#8362 · Nona#8362
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Josefa? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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