Josephus
Masculine · “May he add”
Josephus is the man who wrote almost everything we know about the destruction of the Jerusalem temple, and he was on both sides of the war he described. He commanded a Jewish garrison, surrendered, and finished the campaign attached to the Roman general who became emperor, writing the account in his household.
How old is the name Josephus?
Josephus first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Josephus alive today was born around 1940, making them about 85 years old. About 500 people named Josephus are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Josephus most popular?
Josephus peaked in 1897, reaching #787 nationally. See the whole 1897 chart.
Where it comes from
From Yosef to Josephus
The story of Josephus
The way he survived is the part nobody can quite get past. Besieged at Jotapata, he and forty others hid in a cave, and when the position was hopeless the group agreed on a suicide pact by lot: each man in turn would be killed by the next, in an order drawn at random. He describes this himself. He was among the last two left and persuaded the other to surrender instead. In his own account the survival is providence; readers from the second century onward have noticed that a man who understood arithmetic could arrange the order of a counting-out to land where he wanted, and the puzzle is still taught in mathematics classes under his name. He never explained.
Meaning
May he add
The Latin form of Joseph, from a Hebrew sentence asking God for another child. The -us ending is the Latin masculine and marks the name as belonging to the Roman naming system rather than the Hebrew one, which is exactly what happened to the man: he took the family name of his patrons and was known formally as Titus Flavius Josephus.
How the name formed
- Yosef
- Iosephus
- Josephus
Related forms: Josephus · Iosephus · Joseph
Pronouncing Josephus
joh-SEE-fus
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Dutch families say yoh-SAY-fus, with the j as a y, which is how the name is said in every language that took it from Latin rather than from English.
Nicknames for Josephus
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
- 1882
- Most boys named
- 192328 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #787reached in 1897
- Change vs 2017
- 0.0%5 in 2023, from 5
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.
Josephus in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Josephus in Dutch — same name
- Iosephus in Latin — same name
- Joseph in German — related form
Josephuss among us
people named Josephus 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
Josephus 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
- Joe is waiting inside it as a short, plain, universally understood everyday name.
- It is genuinely formal and adult on paper while being easy to say.
- The historical bearer is real, well documented and endlessly interesting.
- The Latin ending reads as antique or scholarly to most American ears.
- It is strongly dated to the nineteenth century in American records.
- Three syllables with a Latin ending will be shortened by other people immediately.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Josephus
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Josephuss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Josephus are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Josephus in 2025?
- Josephus is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Josephus with classmates?
- Josephus 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 Josephus? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Josephus and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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