Josua
Masculine · “the Lord is salvation”
Josua is not a misspelling in most of Europe. German writes the name exactly this way, and so did Latin, which means the missing letter is an English addition rather than a European omission.
How old is the name Josua?
Josua first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Josua alive today was born around 1988, making them about 37 years old. About 700 people named Josua are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Josua most popular?
Josua peaked in 1985, reaching #1416 nationally. See the whole 1985 chart.
Where it comes from
From Yehoshua to Josua
The story of Josua
Hebrew had a consonant that Greek could not write, and the Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible did their best, producing a form that Latin then took over as Iosue. German, borrowing from Latin, wrote Josua and has kept it. English got the name later and from a different direction, reinserting an h to reflect the Hebrew more closely, which is why English alone among the major European languages has a Joshua. The same name, coming through Greek at a different moment and for a different person, produced Jesus. Two of the commonest names in the Christian world are the same Hebrew sentence, separated by which language happened to be doing the borrowing.
Meaning
the Lord is salvation
The Hebrew name is a compound sentence about God saving, and the reading is settled. It is also the same name as Jesus, which reached English by a different route through Greek.
How the name formed
- Yehoshua
- Iosue
- Josua
Related forms: Josua · Josué · Giosuè
Pronouncing Josua
JOSH-oo-uh
Three syllables with the stress in front. In German the name is YOH-zoo-ah, with no sh sound at all.
Nicknames for Josua
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
- 1971
- Most boys named
- 198750 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1416reached in 1985
- Change vs 2020
- −37.5%5 in 2022, from 8
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.
Josua in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Josua in German — same name
- Josué in Spanish — same name
- Giosuè in Italian — same name
Josuas among us
people named Josua 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
Josua 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
- The meaning is settled and documented in one of the oldest written traditions there is.
- Josh is available as a short form from the first day and needs no explaining.
- The spelling is standard in German, so it has a real tradition rather than being invented.
- In English-speaking settings Joshua is the expected spelling and the h will be added constantly.
- German and English read the same letters completely differently, so the name travels less cleanly than it looks.
- It is a strongly scriptural name, which is a feature for many families and a consideration for others.
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Josua
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Josuas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Josua are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Josua in 2025?
- Josua is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Josua with classmates?
- Josua 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 Josua? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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