Joseph
Feminine · “Hebrew Yosef”
Joseph is given to boys far more often — 2,669,490 boys against 10,723 girls since 1880. See Joseph as a boy name
Genesis explains Joseph's name twice in one verse and gives two different explanations. Rachel says God has taken away my reproach, using the verb asaph, and then may the Lord add to me another son, using yasaph. The name is a pun on both, and the text does not choose between them.
How old is the name Joseph?
Joseph was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Joseph alive today was born around 1966, making them about 59 years old. About 7,000 people named Joseph are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Joseph most popular?
Joseph peaked in 1883, reaching #465 nationally. Today it ranks #8362, 7,897 places below that high. See the whole 1883 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yosef to Joseph
The story of Joseph
Double etymologies are common in Genesis and they are not confusion. The text is playing on sound to make a point, and where two verbs are close enough it will use both: the reproach taken away and the son to be added are two things Rachel wants, and the name holds them together. Modern scholarship reads the second as the actual derivation, with the name being a shortened theophoric of the Yosef-el type common across the ancient Near East, meaning may God add. The first is wordplay. What is striking is that a narrative willing to give a name two incompatible glosses is not treating etymology as we do; it is treating a name as something that can be made to say whatever the moment needs. The female American use is a separate and modest phenomenon, alongside female Michael, Charles and Frank in the same decades.
Meaning
Hebrew Yosef, may Yah add
From Hebrew yasaph, to add or increase, giving Yosef, may he add, probably shortened from a form containing the divine name. Genesis 30:23 and 24 offer two explanations in consecutive sentences, one from asaph, to take away, and one from yasaph, to add. The female use of Joseph in American records is nineteenth century and is partly a short form of Josephine and partly clerical. It peaks for girls in 1883.
How the name formed
- Yosef
- Ioseph
- Joseph
Related forms: Yosef · Josefa · Josephine
Pronouncing Joseph
JOH-sif
Two syllables, stress on the first. The ph is a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew letter and is said as f. The Hebrew Yosef is yoh-SEF with the stress at the end.
Nicknames for Joseph
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1987217 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #465reached in 1883
- Change vs 2022
- +33.3%12 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.
Joseph in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Yosef in Hebrew — transliteration
- Josefa in Spanish — related form
- Josephine in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York.
Josephs among us
people named Joseph are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 133,939 born in 2025 was named Joseph
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
Joseph 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
Joseph beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Joseph in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and the biblical figure is major.
- Jo and Josie are established female short forms.
- It has a documented history of female use in American records.
- It will be read as male in every written context.
- Josephine and Josefa are the standard feminines.
- Records and forms will require correcting throughout life.
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What they receive
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Joseph
Feminine · #8362 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Josephs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,000 people named Joseph are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Joseph in 2025?
- Joseph ranks #8362 among US girl names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Joseph?
- About 1 in every 133,939 US girls born in 2025 was named Joseph — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Joseph with classmates?
- Joseph will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Joseph
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 Joseph? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Joseph and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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