Josef
Josef was given to 44 boys in 2025, #2,859 among boys’ names; 9,158 Americans have been recorded with it since 1900 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 8,060 Americans named Josef and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (88% of everyone recorded); the median is 31 years old and half are between 21 and 44.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Josef by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Josef mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Josef is “a male given name, variant of Joseph.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Josef?
#2,859 among boys’ names, 2025
Josef fell from #1,710 in 2015 to #2,859 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 47.5 to 25.8 per million.
220 babies in 1999, the peak
Josef peaked in 1999, when 220 boys were given it, #736 among boys’ names. The 44 births of 2025 are 20% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 44 | #2,859 | 0.03 |
| 2024 | 63 | #2,275 | 0.04 |
| 2023 | 61 | #2,300 | 0.04 |
| 2022 | 59 | #2,392 | 0.03 |
| 2021 | 72 | #2,046 | 0.04 |
| 2020 | 66 | #2,123 | 0.04 |
| 2019 | 81 | #1,857 | 0.05 |
| 2018 | 84 | #1,813 | 0.05 |
| 2017 | 81 | #1,834 | 0.04 |
| 2016 | 92 | #1,701 | 0.05 |
Every recorded year (122)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 91 | #1,710 | 0.05 |
| 2014 | 113 | #1,450 | 0.06 |
| 2013 | 108 | #1,508 | 0.06 |
| 2012 | 95 | #1,631 | 0.05 |
| 2011 | 137 | #1,260 | 0.07 |
| 2010 | 129 | #1,327 | 0.07 |
| 2009 | 125 | #1,372 | 0.06 |
| 2008 | 158 | #1,151 | 0.08 |
| 2007 | 165 | #1,110 | 0.08 |
| 2006 | 191 | #974 | 0.09 |
| 2005 | 218 | #846 | 0.11 |
| 2004 | 185 | #919 | 0.09 |
| 2003 | 188 | #893 | 0.10 |
| 2002 | 195 | #851 | 0.10 |
| 2001 | 211 | #796 | 0.11 |
| 2000 | 198 | #812 | 0.10 |
| 1999 | 220 | #736 | 0.11 |
| 1998 | 211 | #757 | 0.11 |
| 1997 | 183 | #802 | 0.10 |
| 1996 | 175 | #821 | 0.09 |
| 1995 | 168 | #827 | 0.09 |
| 1994 | 179 | #789 | 0.09 |
| 1993 | 170 | #808 | 0.09 |
| 1992 | 163 | #825 | 0.08 |
| 1991 | 154 | #830 | 0.08 |
| 1990 | 166 | #785 | 0.08 |
| 1989 | 156 | #794 | 0.08 |
| 1988 | 177 | #706 | 0.09 |
| 1987 | 164 | #714 | 0.09 |
| 1986 | 159 | #719 | 0.09 |
| 1985 | 172 | #678 | 0.09 |
| 1984 | 170 | #663 | 0.09 |
| 1983 | 130 | #759 | 0.07 |
| 1982 | 149 | #713 | 0.08 |
| 1981 | 131 | #764 | 0.07 |
| 1980 | 151 | #708 | 0.08 |
| 1979 | 161 | #673 | 0.09 |
| 1978 | 123 | #763 | 0.07 |
| 1977 | 119 | #784 | 0.07 |
| 1976 | 96 | #852 | 0.06 |
| 1975 | 107 | #806 | 0.07 |
| 1974 | 80 | #908 | 0.05 |
| 1973 | 78 | #908 | 0.05 |
| 1972 | 80 | #897 | 0.05 |
| 1971 | 89 | #867 | 0.05 |
| 1970 | 93 | #838 | 0.05 |
| 1969 | 65 | #954 | 0.04 |
| 1968 | 72 | #858 | 0.04 |
| 1967 | 41 | #1,168 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 53 | #1,000 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 66 | #915 | 0.04 |
| 1964 | 58 | #995 | 0.03 |
| 1963 | 54 | #1,031 | 0.03 |
| 1962 | 41 | #1,221 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 51 | #1,100 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 53 | #1,062 | 0.02 |
| 1959 | 37 | #1,286 | 0.02 |
| 1958 | 45 | #1,150 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 49 | #1,094 | 0.02 |
| 1956 | 41 | #1,196 | 0.02 |
| 1955 | 38 | #1,229 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 32 | #1,347 | 0.02 |
| 1953 | 25 | #1,534 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 29 | #1,420 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 21 | #1,662 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 18 | #1,779 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 23 | #1,564 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 19 | #1,736 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 21 | #1,676 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 11 | #2,338 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 20 | #1,511 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 13 | #2,037 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 19 | #1,668 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 21 | #1,562 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 11 | #2,266 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 14 | #1,941 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 13 | #2,008 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 20 | #1,543 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 12 | #2,140 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 15 | #1,843 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 14 | #1,985 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 16 | #1,816 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 9 | #2,637 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 9 | #2,739 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 13 | #2,158 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 14 | #2,129 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 15 | #2,052 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 21 | #1,674 | 0.02 |
| 1927 | 16 | #2,083 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 20 | #1,759 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 19 | #1,839 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 21 | #1,750 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 12 | #2,526 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 14 | #2,292 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 7 | #3,701 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 17 | #2,003 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 24 | #1,508 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 14 | #2,218 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 22 | #1,561 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 28 | #1,288 | 0.03 |
| 1915 | 24 | #1,390 | 0.03 |
| 1914 | 13 | #1,823 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 18 | #1,229 | 0.04 |
| 1912 | 12 | #1,478 | 0.03 |
| 1911 | 8 | #1,337 | 0.04 |
| 1910 | 10 | #1,082 | 0.05 |
| 1909 | 11 | #925 | 0.07 |
| 1908 | 5 | #1,502 | 0.03 |
| 1907 | 7 | #1,146 | 0.05 |
| 1906 | 7 | #1,061 | 0.05 |
| 1901 | 7 | #899 | 0.07 |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,239 | 0.04 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Josef a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Josef has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 122 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Josef: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Josef, and how old are they?
8,060 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 88% of the 9,158 Americans ever recorded as Josef. The median Josef alive today is 31 years old; half are between 21 and 44.
The 2020 Census counted 9,669 people named Josef (51 women and girls, 9,618 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 7,905 born in the U.S. The Census count is 22% 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 | 55 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 464 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,320 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,460 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,760 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,010 |
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 Josef born?
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 9 | #1,251 | 1.6× |
| Texas | 6 | #2,414 | 0.7× |
Where Josef is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Josef is most over-represented in New York: since 1910 it was given 1.6 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 Josef 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 4 names spelled alike, given to 2,689,816 babies since 1880, Josef is the second most given (<1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 44 of their 7,359 babies (<1%), again the second 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 Josef
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 Josef and names like it
- Compare Josef and JosephBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sJosef peaked in 1999.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Josef since 1910.
- The top names of 1999The year the most babies were named Josef.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Josef alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with JMost given first.