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NameAlmanac

Joseph

Boys’ name Recorded 1880-2025

Joseph was given to 7,303 boys in 2025, #29 among boys’ names; 2,680,213 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).

An estimated 1.66 million Americans named Joseph and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (62% of everyone recorded); the median is 44 years old and half are between 29 and 62.

Joseph is the #8 most common first name among living American men and boys, by this estimate.

Babies named Joseph each year, first recorded in 1880
Joseph, 1880-2025; highest in 1956.10k20k30k40k188019001920194019601980200020251956 peak: 32,832
Joseph, 1880-2025; highest in 1956.10k20k30k40k188019001920194019601980200020251956 peak: 32,832
Joseph, 1880-2025; highest in 1956.10k20k30k40k18801905193019551980200520251956 peak: 32,832
Joseph, 1880-2025; highest in 1956.10k20k30k40k18801930198020251956 peak: 32,832

Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).

Joseph or JoesphNames of the 1950sNames in New York

Births of Joseph by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

What does Joseph mean?

Wiktionary, English section

Joseph is “a male given name from Hebrew.” Its etymology gives the sense “(God) shall add” (literally).

From Middle English Ioseph, ultimately from Biblical Hebrew יוֹסֵף (Yoséf, literally “(God) shall add”); a son of Jacob. Doublet of Yusuf. Noun sense 1 (“one whose chastity is above temptation”) is a reference to the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife in Genesis 39.

/ˈd͡ʒoʊsəf/

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary, entry Joseph (English), CC BY‑SA 4.0. Quoted from the entry; text after a cross-reference to another sense is left out.

Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).

How popular is Joseph?

#29 among boys’ names, 2025

Joseph fell from #21 in 2015 to #29 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 6.0 to 4.3 per 1,000.

32,832 babies in 1956, the peak

Joseph peaked in 1956, when 32,832 babies were given it (32,749 boys, #12 among boys’ names). The 7,315 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 22% of that peak.

Joseph by year
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
20257,303#294.3
20247,261#324.2
20237,279#294.3
20227,839#304.5
20218,166#284.7
20208,486#264.9
20199,179#245.1
20189,682#235.3
201710,488#185.7
201610,969#205.8
Every recorded year (146)
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
201511,531#216.0
201412,155#206.3
201312,278#206.5
201212,594#196.6
201112,995#226.8
201013,851#207.2
200914,952#157.5
200816,599#138.1
200717,364#138.4
200618,471#119.0
200519,241#99.6
200420,147#910.1
200321,394#610.8
200221,920#711.3
200122,030#811.3
200022,844#811.6
199923,220#812.1
199823,186#1112.1
199723,604#1212.5
199624,758#1213.1
199525,354#1213.3
199425,734#1113.3
199327,014#1213.8
199227,904#1114.0
199129,840#914.8
199030,137#1014.7
198929,884#1114.9
198829,019#1215.2
198728,516#1215.3
198628,834#1215.7
198530,222#1016.4
198430,513#1016.9
198330,442#1117.0
198231,035#1117.1
198130,761#1117.2
198030,185#1016.9
197928,654#1116.6
197826,663#1016.2
197726,483#1016.1
197624,055#1215.3
197522,125#1214.2
197421,834#1213.9
197321,326#1213.7
197222,454#1213.8
197124,517#1513.9
197026,714#1614.4
196926,173#1514.6
196825,396#1614.6
196725,926#1514.9
196626,981#1515.1
196528,630#1115.4
196430,576#1115.3
196330,077#1314.8
196230,090#1314.5
196129,450#1213.9
196029,749#1214.0
195929,539#1313.8
195830,115#1214.2
195731,851#1214.8
195632,749#1215.5
195531,589#1315.3
195431,221#1315.3
195329,269#1314.8
195228,510#1214.7
195128,147#1414.9
195027,022#1315.1
194926,408#1414.9
194826,801#1315.3
194727,520#1415.0
194624,284#1415.0
194520,823#1415.5
194421,176#1315.5
194322,828#1316.0
194222,429#1116.2
194119,808#1216.1
194018,208#1215.7
193917,722#1216.0
193817,742#1216.0
193717,322#1216.2
193617,453#1116.8
193517,181#1016.5
193417,111#1016.6
193317,162#917.3
193218,566#917.8
193119,326#918.6
193020,981#919.1
192921,165#919.7
192822,322#920.2
192723,503#920.9
192623,756#821.4
192524,613#722.1
192425,421#722.4
192325,561#723.3
192225,699#723.6
192126,182#723.8
192025,587#724.0
191924,266#724.8
191826,261#725.9
191724,761#526.8
191623,883#526.8
191523,051#527.2
191418,829#528.8
191314,471#528.2
191212,062#528.1
19116,488#628.7
19105,228#626.9
19094,348#626.5
19084,162#627.0
19073,844#726.2
19063,527#726.5
19053,302#725.0
19043,291#725.7
19033,121#626.2
19023,098#725.3
19012,766#626.0
19003,714#724.7
18992,679#625.2
18983,171#625.8
18972,827#625.1
18963,051#625.5
18952,992#725.5
18942,977#625.7
18932,997#626.7
18923,064#725.1
18912,572#725.4
18902,670#724.0
18892,729#724.7
18882,993#724.8
18872,456#724.2
18862,594#723.4
18852,540#723.6
18842,707#723.7
18832,515#724.0
18822,670#723.5
18812,456#724.4
18802,632#723.8

Download Joseph’s births by year (CSV)

Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.

Is Joseph a boy’s or a girl’s name?

Joseph has been given almost only to boys: 10,723 girls in 146 years of records.

Girls and boys named Joseph: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.

How many people are named Joseph, and how old are they?

1.66 million alive in 2026, estimated

That is 62% of the 2,680,213 Americans ever recorded as Joseph. The median Joseph alive today is 44 years old; half are between 29 and 62.

The 2020 Census counted 1,600,667 people named Joseph (1,908 women and girls, 1,598,759 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,749,106 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% below that prediction.

Alive today, by age

100-109428
90-9912,300
80-8968,300
70-79175,000
60-69228,000
50-59211,000
40-49 (median)273,000
30-39266,000
20-29212,000
10-19134,000
0-975,200

Alive today, by generation

By generation
GenerationBornAlive
Silent Generation1928-194569,300
Baby Boomers1946-1964370,000
Generation X1965-1980362,000
Millennials1981-1996439,000
Generation Z1997-2012300,000
Generation Alpha2013-2025122,000

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 Joseph born?

The states with the most babies named Joseph are New York, Pennsylvania and California, with 31% of its births recorded by state since 1910.

States with the most births: girls and boys together; rank among boys’ names in the state in 2025
StateSince 1910Rank, boysvs. national
New York349,554#71.7×
Pennsylvania258,788#121.7×
California182,380#460.8×
New Jersey139,001#51.8×
Illinois136,168#241.0×
Ohio123,087#291.0×
Massachusetts111,490#251.5×
Texas99,177#450.6×
Michigan94,861#240.9×
Florida71,056#310.9×

Where Joseph is more common than its national share predicts

Relative to its national share, Joseph is most over-represented in New Jersey: since 1910 it was given 1.8 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.

New Jersey1.80×
Pennsylvania1.69×
New York1.66×
Rhode Island1.55×
Massachusetts1.51×
Connecticut1.48×
Maryland1.20×
Delaware1.18×

Bars start at 1× (as often as the national share predicts).

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 Joseph 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 7 names spelled alike, given to 2,708,398 babies since 1880, Joseph is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 7,315 of their 7,370 babies (99%), again the most given.

Joseph and the names spelled alike
NameSince 1880Births 2025Peak year
Joseph2,680,2137,3151956
Joesph15,662111957
Josef9,158441999
Joeseph2,849under 51998
Josph343under 51957
Joseff102under 52003
Jsoeph71under 51987

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 Joseph

Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.

NameRecorded1880-2025
Marshall98,604
Maurice138,943
Martin317,037
Edwin248,744
John5,204,377
Clinton98,005

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 Joseph and names like it

  1. Compare Joseph and JoesphBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
  2. The most given names of the 1950sJoseph peaked in 1956.
  3. New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Joseph since 1910.
  4. Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Joseph: every such name, by how often it is given.
  5. The top names of 1956The year the most babies were named Joseph.
  6. The names of the MillennialsMost people named Joseph alive today were born 1981-1996.
  7. Names starting with JMost given first.

Compare Joseph with another name