Josey
Feminine · “he will add”
Josey is given to both — 3,231 girls and 1,017 boys since 1880. See Josey as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Josey is Josie with the spelling loosened — a pet form of Josephine that has been standing on its own for a long time. Underneath it is Joseph, and Joseph is a Hebrew sentence with a wish in it.
How old is the name Josey?
Josey first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Josey alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 3,200 people named Josey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Josey most popular?
Josey peaked in 1998, reaching #1774 nationally. Today it ranks #2778, 1,004 places below that high. See the whole 1998 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yosef to Josey
The story of Josey
Joseph runs through the Hebrew Bible and the gospels and became one of the standard names of Christian Europe. French made the feminine Joséphine, which English took as Josephine, and English then did what it does to long names: cut it to Jo, then softened that to Josie. The -ey spelling is American and follows the same habit that gave Bailey, Kelsey and Lindsey their endings. Josey is also an English surname in its own right, which is a smaller and separate road into the same spelling.
Meaning
he will add
Hebrew Yosef means 'he will add' or 'may he add' — the book of Genesis gives the naming scene, where Rachel asks for another son. Josephine is the French feminine of Joseph, formed with the -ine ending, and Josie and Josey are its English pet forms. The meaning travels all the way down unchanged.
How the name formed
- Yosef
- Joseph
- Joséphine
- Josie
- Josey
Related forms: Joséphine · Josefina · Giuseppina · Josie
Pronouncing Josey
JOH-zee
Two syllables, stress on the first, the s voiced as a z. Some families say JOH-see with an unvoiced s, and both are heard; the voiced version is the more common.
Nicknames for Josey
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
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 2012106 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1774reached in 1998
- Change vs 2024
- −23.8%61 in 2025, from 80
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.
Josey in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Joséphine in French — related form
- Josefina in Spanish — related form
- Giuseppina in Italian — related form
- Josie in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Ohio, Tennessee.
Joseys among us
people named Josey are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 26,349 born in 2025 was named Josey
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Josey
- #2778
- Josey on the 2025 chart
- #892
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Josey went to 61 girls in 2025, but Jozey is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 68, which makes it the 892nd most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,886 places above the chart.
- Josey61
- Jozey7
About 1 girl in 23,636 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 26,349 for Josey itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Audria test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Josey's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Audria climbed just as high around 1933, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Audria's path sketches the road Josey is walking now.
Josey 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
Where Josey is headed
Josey should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Josey beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Josey in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Jo and Josie are ready short and long forms, so the name has room to move.
- Josephine stands behind it as a full formal version whenever one is wanted.
- Two easy syllables that every English speaker says correctly on sight.
- Josie is the standard spelling, so this one gets corrected in writing.
- It is a diminutive by construction and reads as informal on official documents.
- Josey, Josie, Jozy and Jocie all circulate, so the letters get spelled out.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Josey
Feminine · #2778 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Joseys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,200 people named Josey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Josey?
- Josey is the most-used spelling in US records — 61 of the 68 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Jozey.
- How popular is the name Josey in 2025?
- Josey ranks #2778 among US girl names in 2025, with 61 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Josey?
- About 1 in every 26,349 US girls born in 2025 was named Josey — 61 in all.
- Will my child share the name Josey with classmates?
- Josey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Josey
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eugenia#2778 · Amour#2778 · Wynona#2778 · Joie#2778 · Bennie#2778 · Havyn#2778 · Wisdom#2778 · Aela#2778
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Josey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Josey and another name?
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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