Josie
Feminine · “He will add”
Josie is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 75,370 girls against 545 boys since 1880. See Josie as a boy name
Josie began as the affectionate short form of Josephine, and it has been written on American birth records for as long as such records have been kept — never crowding the top, never disappearing either. Two soft syllables, both open, the kind that carry easily across a yard. It has lately been climbing again, after generations of quiet steady use.
How old is the name Josie?
Josie was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Josie alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 57,000 people named Josie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Josie most popular?
Josie peaked in 2025, reaching #82 nationally. Today it ranks #82, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Where it comes from
From Yosef to Josie
The story of Josie
The line starts with Yosef in the Hebrew Bible, reaches Latin and Greek as Ioseph, and spreads across Christian Europe as Joseph. Feminine forms grew from it in the Romance languages — French Joséphine, Spanish Josefina, Italian Giuseppina — and Joséphine gained enormous currency in France after Napoleon's first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais, was crowned empress in the early nineteenth century. English speakers clipped Joséphine to Josie almost immediately, and in the United States the short form began appearing on its own, without the long name behind it. It has been used that way ever since, as a full given name rather than a borrowed pet form.
Meaning
"He will add" — from the Hebrew name Yosef, by way of Josephine
The meaning belongs to the root: Hebrew Yosef, understood as "he will add" or "God will add." Josie inherits it through the French feminine Joséphine, and through Spanish Josefina and Josefa, where it also serves as the everyday short form.
How the name formed
- Yosef
- Joseph
- Joséphine
- Josephine
- Josie
Related forms: Joséphine · Josefina · Giuseppina · Josefine · Józefina · Josey
Pronouncing Josie
JOH-zee
A voiced middle consonant is the usual American pronunciation; JOH-see is heard too, and both pass without comment. Spanish speakers reading the first syllables may reach for José at first glance.
Nicknames for Josie
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 20253,021 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #82reached in 2025
- Change vs 2022
- +27.4%3,021 in 2025, from 2,372
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.
Josie in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Joséphine in French — related form
- Josefina in Spanish — related form
- Giuseppina in Italian — related form
- Josefine in German — related form
- Józefina in Polish — related form
- Josey in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Ohio.
Josies among us
people named Josie are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 532 born in 2025 was named Josie
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 Jeanette test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Josie's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jeanette climbed just as high around 1939, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jeanette's path sketches the road Josie is walking now.
Josie is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Josie is headed
Josie looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 20% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
High 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.
Josie beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Josie in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Both a nickname and a full name, so it works on a birth certificate and needs no shortening — while Josephine remains available as a formal expansion.
- A continuous presence in American records from the beginning of national name-keeping, so it reads as familiar rather than newly coined.
- Spelled the way it sounds for English speakers, and short enough to write early.
- Close cousins exist in French, Spanish, Italian, German and Polish, which gives the name a foothold in bilingual families.
- It is rising, not resting. A name that feels uncommon now can be noticeably more common by the time a child reaches middle school.
- Josey, Josi and Josey-with-a-y all circulate, so expect to spell it aloud occasionally — though the -ie ending is the one most people default to.
- It shares its Jo- opening with Joanna, Joan, Jolene and Joy, which can mean a beat of clarification in a room where several are present.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Josie
Feminine · #82 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Josies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 57,000 people named Josie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Josie in 2025?
- Josie ranks #82 among US girl names in 2025, with 3,021 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Josie?
- About 1 in every 532 US girls born in 2025 was named Josie — 3,021 in all.
- Will my child share the name Josie with classmates?
- Josie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Josie
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lucia#83 · Madeline#81 · Addison#84 · Lyla#80 · Melody#79 · Kennedy#85 · Liliana#78 · Audrey#86
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Josie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Josie and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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