Josey
Masculine · “he will add”
Josey is given to both — 1,017 boys and 3,231 girls since 1880. See Josey as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Josey is a short form of Joseph, and the Hebrew name is a small pun the text makes twice — Rachel says God has taken away her reproach, and asks him to add another son.
How old is the name Josey?
Josey first appears in US birth records in 1976 — 49 years ago. The typical Josey alive today was born around 1996, making them about 29 years old. About 1,000 people named Josey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Josey most popular?
Josey peaked in 1988, reaching #1706 nationally. Today it ranks #4139, 2,433 places below that high. See the whole 1988 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yosef to Josey
The story of Josey
Joseph is sold by his brothers, imprisoned in Egypt, interprets dreams and rises to run the country — the longest sustained narrative about one person in Genesis. The name spread through Jewish, Christian and Muslim naming alike. Josey is an American short form used for both sexes, appearing in the records for men from the nineteenth century and for women more recently.
Meaning
he will add
From Hebrew yasaf, to add; Genesis gives two explanations at once, playing on a verb for taking away and then on this one. The name as recorded is the second, a request for another child.
How the name formed
- Yosef
- Joseph
- Josey
Related forms: Josie · José · Yosef
Pronouncing Josey
JOH-see
Two syllables, first stressed. Josey and Josie are said identically.
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
- 1976
- Most boys named
- 198942 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1706reached in 1988
- Change vs 2024
- −7.4%25 in 2025, from 27
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
- Josie in English — spelling variant
- José in Spanish — related form
- Yosef in Hebrew — related form
Joseys among us
people named Josey are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 68,323 born in 2025 was named Josey
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Donnald 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: Donnald climbed just as high around 1954, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Donnald'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 looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 16% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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 boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning that the biblical text explains outright.
- Joseph and Joe both stand behind it as fuller options.
- Warm and immediately friendly, and understood by everyone.
- Josie is the more common spelling and is read as a women's name.
- It reads as a nickname, which may matter on a formal document.
- A 1976 western gave the name a strong American association.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Josey
Masculine · #4139 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 1,000 people named Josey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Josey in 2025?
- Josey ranks #4139 among US boy names in 2025, with 25 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Josey?
- About 1 in every 68,323 US boys born in 2025 was named Josey — 25 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.
Mose#4139 · Lucious#4139 · Karsten#4139 · Nikita#4139 · Hasani#4139 · Jomar#4139 · Fionn#4139 · Earnest#4139
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Josey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Josey and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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