Josias
Masculine · Hebrew roots · “Yahweh supports" or "Yahweh heals”
Josias is the spelling that traveled: the Hebrew Yoshiyahu passed through Greek and Latin scribes and came out as Iosias, then Josias, the form printed in the Latin Vulgate and kept in the King James New Testament genealogy. Three syllables that can land two different ways depending on whether the house speaks Spanish or English, and both are correct.
How old is the name Josias?
Josias first appears in US birth records in 1975 — 50 years ago. The typical Josias is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,500 people named Josias are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Josias most popular?
Josias peaked in 2025, reaching #950 nationally. Today it ranks #950, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Where it comes from
From Yoshiyahu (Hebrew) to Josias
The story of Josias
The name belongs first to Josiah, king of Judah in the seventh century BCE, whose religious reforms are recounted at length in the books of Kings and Chronicles. When Jewish translators rendered those scriptures into Greek, Yoshiyahu became Iosias, and Latin kept it as Josias — the form that reached western Europe and stayed in the Vulgate and in the King James New Testament. English eventually reverted to Josiah for the Old Testament king, but Josias held on in French, Spanish and Portuguese, where it never needed replacing. Its American record is concentrated in Texas, California and Florida, which is the map of Spanish-speaking households as much as anything else.
Meaningscholars disagree
"Yahweh supports" or "Yahweh heals"
The first element is the divine name; the second is the argument. Hebraists read the verb root as either 'to support, sustain' or 'to heal', and both readings have long standing in scholarly reference works. Neither has pushed the other out.
How the name formed
- YoshiyahuHebrew
- IosiasGreek
- JosiasLatin
- JosiahEnglish
Related forms: Josiah · Josías · Josias · Josias · Josia · Yoshiyahu
Pronouncing Josias
ho-SEE-ahs
That is the Spanish reading, and the one most American families using this spelling intend. English speakers who meet it cold usually try jo-SY-as, by analogy with Josiah. Both are in genuine use; it helps to decide early which one you will correct people toward.
Nicknames for Josias
High
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
- 1975
- Most boys named
- 2025247 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #950reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +15.4%247 in 2025, from 214
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.
Josias in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Josiah in English — same name
- Josías in Spanish — spelling variant
- Josias in Portuguese — same name
- Josias in French — same name
- Josia in German — related form
- Yoshiyahu in Hebrew — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Josiass among us
people named Josias are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 6,915 born in 2025 was named Josias
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 Hasan test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Josias's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Hasan climbed just as high around 1978, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Hasan's path sketches the road Josias is walking now.
Josias 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 Josias is headed
Josias 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.
Josias beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Josias in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Documented continuously for well over two thousand years, from the Hebrew scriptures through Greek and Latin into modern European languages.
- Reads and works in Spanish, Portuguese, French and English without changing its spelling.
- Close enough to Josiah that most people can place it immediately, without being the same name.
- Several ready-made short forms — Josi, Sias, Jo — none of which need explaining.
- Two live pronunciations, ho-SEE-ahs and jo-SY-as. Neither is wrong, but a child will do some correcting, and the correcting changes depending on which room he is in.
- Expect it to be written as Josiah by people who assume the final -s is a slip. A quick, cheerful spelling-out becomes a lifelong habit.
- American use is recent and concentrated in a few states, so most bearers are still children. Outside Texas, California and Florida it will often be the first one a teacher has met — which is easily managed, just worth knowing.
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Josias
Masculine · Hebrew roots · #950 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Josiass are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,500 people named Josias are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Josias in 2025?
- Josias ranks #950 among US boy names in 2025, with 247 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Josias?
- About 1 in every 6,915 US boys born in 2025 was named Josias — 247 in all.
- Will my child share the name Josias with classmates?
- Josias will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Josias
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jon#951 · Ricky#948 · Jethro#952 · Mitchell#952 · Agustin#952 · Meir#948 · Legacy#955 · Felipe#955
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Josias? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Josias and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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