Josephus — boys' name

What the Data Says About Josephus

The Social Security Administration has registered 1,211 babies named Josephus between 1882 and 2023, spanning 142 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a boy's name, Josephus currently falls outside the top 1,000 boys' names for 2023. The name reached its historical peak in 1923, when 28 babies received it in a single year.

Decade-level aggregation shows that Josephus performed strongest in the 1920s, accumulating 206 births during that ten-year window. Across the 15 decades of recorded activity, Josephus shows a clear decline from its mid-century high. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in North Carolina, which accounts for 44 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by Georgia and South Carolina. In total, SSA state-level files list Josephus in 4 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.

No etymological entry is currently available for Josephus in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 1,211 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.