Hosea
Hosea was given to 67 boys in 2025, #2,154 among boys’ names; 5,501 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,070 Americans named Hosea and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (56% of everyone recorded); the median is 38 years old and half are between 14 and 63.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Hosea by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Hosea mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Hosea is “a male given name from Hebrew.” Its etymology gives the senses “Hosea” (הוֹשֵׁעַ) and “to save” (הוֹשִׁיעַ).
From Latin Hōsēās, from Ancient Greek Ὡσηέ (Hōsēé), from Biblical Hebrew הוֹשֵׁעַ (hōšḗaʿ, “Hosea”), from the masculine singular imperative of הוֹשִׁיעַ (hoshía', “to save”).
/ˌhoʊˈziːə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Hosea?
#2,154 among boys’ names, 2025
Hosea fell from #2,074 in 2015 to #2,154 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 35.5 to 39.2 per million.
74 babies in 1925, the peak
Hosea peaked in 1925, when 74 boys were given it, #770 among boys’ names. The 67 births of 2025 are 91% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 67 | #2,154 | 0.04 |
| 2024 | 60 | #2,354 | 0.03 |
| 2023 | 56 | #2,422 | 0.03 |
| 2022 | 65 | #2,224 | 0.04 |
| 2021 | 49 | #2,634 | 0.03 |
| 2020 | 61 | #2,247 | 0.04 |
| 2019 | 44 | #2,823 | 0.02 |
| 2018 | 61 | #2,244 | 0.03 |
| 2017 | 56 | #2,329 | 0.03 |
| 2016 | 56 | #2,349 | 0.03 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 68 | #2,074 | 0.04 |
| 2014 | 64 | #2,140 | 0.03 |
| 2013 | 45 | #2,635 | 0.02 |
| 2012 | 62 | #2,164 | 0.03 |
| 2011 | 40 | #2,921 | 0.02 |
| 2010 | 51 | #2,442 | 0.03 |
| 2009 | 26 | #3,957 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 30 | #3,585 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 29 | #3,632 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 32 | #3,337 | 0.02 |
| 2005 | 27 | #3,557 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 26 | #3,564 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 29 | #3,220 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 28 | #3,211 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 37 | #2,576 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 32 | #2,827 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 26 | #3,134 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 24 | #3,223 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 23 | #3,196 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 38 | #2,192 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 27 | #2,708 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 27 | #2,714 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 31 | #2,415 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 23 | #2,935 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 47 | #1,723 | 0.02 |
| 1990 | 40 | #1,910 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 31 | #2,211 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 38 | #1,795 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 26 | #2,237 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 29 | #2,025 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 34 | #1,773 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 18 | #2,644 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 26 | #2,042 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 22 | #2,298 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 30 | #1,873 | 0.02 |
| 1980 | 29 | #1,923 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 40 | #1,502 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 30 | #1,770 | 0.02 |
| 1977 | 41 | #1,436 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 26 | #1,898 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 45 | #1,292 | 0.03 |
| 1974 | 42 | #1,320 | 0.03 |
| 1973 | 48 | #1,194 | 0.03 |
| 1972 | 45 | #1,238 | 0.03 |
| 1971 | 38 | #1,389 | 0.02 |
| 1970 | 39 | #1,342 | 0.02 |
| 1969 | 34 | #1,386 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 46 | #1,109 | 0.03 |
| 1967 | 36 | #1,265 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 29 | #1,436 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 42 | #1,175 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 49 | #1,089 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 60 | #973 | 0.03 |
| 1962 | 42 | #1,205 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 50 | #1,110 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 51 | #1,086 | 0.02 |
| 1959 | 54 | #1,053 | 0.03 |
| 1958 | 60 | #984 | 0.03 |
| 1957 | 56 | #1,017 | 0.03 |
| 1956 | 58 | #979 | 0.03 |
| 1955 | 58 | #989 | 0.03 |
| 1954 | 55 | #1,012 | 0.03 |
| 1953 | 43 | #1,129 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 47 | #1,057 | 0.02 |
| 1951 | 69 | #843 | 0.04 |
| 1950 | 55 | #929 | 0.03 |
| 1949 | 44 | #1,064 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 57 | #912 | 0.03 |
| 1947 | 47 | #1,055 | 0.03 |
| 1946 | 40 | #1,102 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 26 | #1,310 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 38 | #1,075 | 0.03 |
| 1943 | 43 | #1,028 | 0.03 |
| 1942 | 35 | #1,179 | 0.03 |
| 1941 | 52 | #879 | 0.04 |
| 1940 | 55 | #853 | 0.05 |
| 1939 | 49 | #896 | 0.04 |
| 1938 | 34 | #1,118 | 0.03 |
| 1937 | 55 | #827 | 0.05 |
| 1936 | 52 | #849 | 0.05 |
| 1935 | 31 | #1,215 | 0.03 |
| 1934 | 47 | #923 | 0.05 |
| 1933 | 50 | #878 | 0.05 |
| 1932 | 59 | #831 | 0.06 |
| 1931 | 49 | #929 | 0.05 |
| 1930 | 48 | #987 | 0.04 |
| 1929 | 39 | #1,120 | 0.04 |
| 1928 | 41 | #1,104 | 0.04 |
| 1927 | 67 | #815 | 0.06 |
| 1926 | 58 | #884 | 0.05 |
| 1925 | 74 | #770 | 0.07 |
| 1924 | 65 | #853 | 0.06 |
| 1923 | 72 | #781 | 0.07 |
| 1922 | 49 | #1,013 | 0.05 |
| 1921 | 56 | #943 | 0.05 |
| 1920 | 62 | #869 | 0.06 |
| 1919 | 56 | #892 | 0.06 |
| 1918 | 49 | #954 | 0.05 |
| 1917 | 49 | #914 | 0.05 |
| 1916 | 56 | #837 | 0.06 |
| 1915 | 45 | #933 | 0.05 |
| 1914 | 32 | #992 | 0.05 |
| 1913 | 33 | #843 | 0.06 |
| 1912 | 32 | #773 | 0.07 |
| 1911 | 13 | #950 | 0.06 |
| 1910 | 21 | #645 | 0.11 |
| 1909 | 12 | #870 | 0.07 |
| 1908 | 17 | #642 | 0.11 |
| 1907 | 12 | #793 | 0.08 |
| 1906 | 13 | #692 | 0.10 |
| 1905 | 20 | #516 | 0.15 |
| 1904 | 15 | #599 | 0.12 |
| 1903 | 11 | #715 | 0.09 |
| 1902 | 25 | #407 | 0.20 |
| 1901 | 11 | #662 | 0.10 |
| 1900 | 18 | #592 | 0.12 |
| 1899 | 6 | #985 | 0.06 |
| 1898 | 18 | #495 | 0.15 |
| 1897 | 11 | #663 | 0.10 |
| 1896 | 14 | #568 | 0.12 |
| 1895 | 12 | #623 | 0.10 |
| 1894 | 7 | #907 | 0.06 |
| 1893 | 15 | #487 | 0.13 |
| 1892 | 11 | #656 | 0.09 |
| 1891 | 10 | #619 | 0.10 |
| 1890 | 10 | #646 | 0.09 |
| 1889 | 15 | #489 | 0.14 |
| 1888 | 17 | #473 | 0.14 |
| 1887 | 16 | #431 | 0.16 |
| 1886 | 17 | #440 | 0.15 |
| 1885 | 24 | #360 | 0.22 |
| 1884 | 19 | #421 | 0.17 |
| 1883 | 11 | #574 | 0.11 |
| 1882 | 10 | #622 | 0.09 |
| 1881 | 16 | #437 | 0.16 |
| 1880 | 10 | #619 | 0.09 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Hosea a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Hosea has been given almost only to boys: 20 girls in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Hosea: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Hosea, and how old are they?
3,070 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 56% of the 5,501 Americans ever recorded as Hosea. The median Hosea alive today is 38 years old; half are between 14 and 63.
The 2020 Census counted 3,543 people named Hosea (48 women and girls, 3,495 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,988 born in the U.S. The Census count is 19% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 148 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 659 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 538 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 463 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 514 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 746 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Hosea born?
The states with the most babies named Hosea are Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, with 44% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Mississippi and Alabama are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi | 253 | not ranked | 3.3× |
| Alabama | 231 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Georgia | 192 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Texas | 166 | #2,168 | 0.5× |
| Louisiana | 123 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Arkansas | 112 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| California | 103 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| North Carolina | 71 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Illinois | 50 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| South Carolina | 46 | not ranked | 0.5× |
Where Hosea is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Hosea is most over-represented in Mississippi: since 1910 it was given 3.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Hosea with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 7,132 babies since 1880, Hosea is the most given (77% of them). In 2025 it was given to 67 of their 67 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Hosea
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Hosea and names like it
- Compare Hosea and HosieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sHosea peaked in 1925.
- Mississippi’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Hosea since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Hosea: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1925The year the most babies were named Hosea.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Hosea alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with HMost given first.