Josephine
Masculine · “he will add”
Josephine is given to girls far more often — 331,467 girls against 991 boys since 1880. See Josephine as a girl name
Josephine Baker smuggled intelligence for the Resistance in her sheet music. She was already the most famous entertainer in France, which meant she could cross borders with a trunk of scores and nobody looked twice — and she wrote in invisible ink between the staves.
How old is the name Josephine?
Josephine first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Josephine alive today was born around 1929, making them about 96 years old. About 200 people named Josephine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Josephine most popular?
Josephine peaked in 1903, reaching #656 nationally. See the whole 1903 chart.
Where it comes from
From a Hebrew sentence about a son being added to Josephine
The story of Josephine
She had left America at nineteen because there was no work for a Black performer that did not humiliate her, and became a star in Paris within a year. During the war she carried messages, worked for the Free French and was decorated afterwards. She adopted twelve children of different nationalities and religions and called them the Rainbow Tribe, on the argument that if they could grow up as siblings the case for tolerance made itself. In 2021 she was interred in the Pantheon, the first Black woman to be given that honor.
Meaning
he will add
Joseph is a Hebrew sentence about God adding another son, and the feminine is French. The name arrived in English use in the early nineteenth century, went to the top of the American charts before the First World War, disappeared for three generations and has now come back — it is one of the clearest examples of the hundred-year rule, by which a name becomes usable again once nobody's grandmother has it.
How the name formed
- a Hebrew sentence about a son being added
- French builds the feminine Josephine
- an empress makes it fashionable across Europe
- an American peak before the First World War
- back in the top hundred a century later
Related forms: Josephine · Giuseppina · Josefina · Josefine
Pronouncing Josephine
JO-suh-feen
Three syllables with the stress at the front and a secondary one at the back. French puts the weight on the last syllable, which some American families keep.
Nicknames for Josephine
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
- 1885
- Most boys named
- 193237 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #656reached in 1903
- Change vs 1989
- −44.4%5 in 2023, 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.
Josephine in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Josephine in French — same name
- Giuseppina in Italian — same name
- Josefina in Spanish — same name
- Josefine in German — same name
Josephines among us
people named Josephine 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
Josephine 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
- Josie and Jo are both available and both are thoroughly current.
- It is elegant and long on paper with plain short forms for daily use.
- It works without alteration across most of Europe.
- It is rising fast, so it will be commoner among her contemporaries than in the record.
- Three syllables and a French ending is a formal name for a small child.
- Josephine and Josefina will both be written, depending on who is listening.
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What they receive
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Josephine
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Josephines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Josephine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Josephine in 2025?
- Josephine is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Josephine with classmates?
- Josephine will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More J names
The most-given names starting with J, all years combined.
James#6 · John#23 · Joseph#29 · Joshua#66 · Jason#165 · Jacob#43 · Jeffrey#552 · Jonathan#89
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Josephine? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Josephine and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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