Josette
Josette was given to 109 girls in 2025, #1,836 among girls’ names; 6,659 Americans have been recorded with it since 1916 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,940 Americans named Josette and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (89% of everyone recorded); the median is 50 years old and half are between 26 and 58.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Josette by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Josette mean?
Wiktionary, French section
Josette is “a diminutive of the female given name Joséphine”
/ʒo.zɛt/
Meaning: Wiktionary, French section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Josette?
#1,836 among girls’ names, 2025
Josette rose from #2,758 in 2015 to #1,836 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 35.9 to 67.8 per million.
504 babies in 1968, the peak
Josette peaked in 1968, when 504 girls were given it, #417 among girls’ names. The 109 births of 2025 are 22% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 109 | #1,836 | 0.07 |
| 2024 | 85 | #2,223 | 0.05 |
| 2023 | 80 | #2,297 | 0.05 |
| 2022 | 93 | #2,076 | 0.06 |
| 2021 | 95 | #2,037 | 0.06 |
| 2020 | 74 | #2,387 | 0.05 |
| 2019 | 56 | #2,943 | 0.03 |
| 2018 | 52 | #3,136 | 0.03 |
| 2017 | 43 | #3,586 | 0.02 |
| 2016 | 57 | #2,947 | 0.03 |
Every recorded year (102)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 64 | #2,758 | 0.04 |
| 2014 | 52 | #3,160 | 0.03 |
| 2013 | 62 | #2,787 | 0.04 |
| 2012 | 51 | #3,240 | 0.03 |
| 2011 | 28 | #4,982 | 0.02 |
| 2010 | 32 | #4,532 | 0.02 |
| 2009 | 28 | #5,149 | 0.02 |
| 2008 | 42 | #3,813 | 0.02 |
| 2007 | 54 | #3,188 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 28 | #5,016 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 48 | #3,228 | 0.03 |
| 2004 | 51 | #3,041 | 0.03 |
| 2003 | 68 | #2,423 | 0.04 |
| 2002 | 50 | #2,947 | 0.03 |
| 2001 | 61 | #2,518 | 0.03 |
| 2000 | 71 | #2,219 | 0.04 |
| 1999 | 57 | #2,512 | 0.03 |
| 1998 | 56 | #2,474 | 0.03 |
| 1997 | 65 | #2,140 | 0.04 |
| 1996 | 60 | #2,235 | 0.03 |
| 1995 | 50 | #2,524 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 66 | #2,085 | 0.04 |
| 1993 | 51 | #2,461 | 0.03 |
| 1992 | 65 | #2,084 | 0.04 |
| 1991 | 116 | #1,385 | 0.06 |
| 1990 | 52 | #2,379 | 0.03 |
| 1989 | 51 | #2,312 | 0.03 |
| 1988 | 42 | #2,559 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 34 | #2,871 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 44 | #2,312 | 0.03 |
| 1985 | 62 | #1,818 | 0.04 |
| 1984 | 60 | #1,796 | 0.04 |
| 1983 | 52 | #1,974 | 0.03 |
| 1982 | 64 | #1,745 | 0.04 |
| 1981 | 61 | #1,817 | 0.04 |
| 1980 | 62 | #1,775 | 0.04 |
| 1979 | 87 | #1,414 | 0.05 |
| 1978 | 85 | #1,381 | 0.06 |
| 1977 | 99 | #1,229 | 0.06 |
| 1976 | 95 | #1,197 | 0.06 |
| 1975 | 96 | #1,206 | 0.07 |
| 1974 | 120 | #1,004 | 0.08 |
| 1973 | 162 | #810 | 0.11 |
| 1972 | 175 | #782 | 0.12 |
| 1971 | 218 | #700 | 0.13 |
| 1970 | 298 | #590 | 0.17 |
| 1969 | 293 | #578 | 0.17 |
| 1968 | 504 | #417 | 0.31 |
| 1967 | 181 | #729 | 0.11 |
| 1966 | 48 | #1,626 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 58 | #1,451 | 0.03 |
| 1964 | 44 | #1,762 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 60 | #1,439 | 0.03 |
| 1962 | 59 | #1,449 | 0.03 |
| 1961 | 53 | #1,559 | 0.03 |
| 1960 | 58 | #1,447 | 0.03 |
| 1959 | 57 | #1,424 | 0.03 |
| 1958 | 71 | #1,260 | 0.04 |
| 1957 | 53 | #1,466 | 0.03 |
| 1956 | 60 | #1,342 | 0.03 |
| 1955 | 58 | #1,328 | 0.03 |
| 1954 | 62 | #1,260 | 0.03 |
| 1953 | 66 | #1,193 | 0.04 |
| 1952 | 52 | #1,343 | 0.03 |
| 1951 | 54 | #1,268 | 0.03 |
| 1950 | 42 | #1,417 | 0.02 |
| 1949 | 56 | #1,213 | 0.03 |
| 1948 | 56 | #1,213 | 0.03 |
| 1947 | 60 | #1,163 | 0.03 |
| 1946 | 40 | #1,383 | 0.03 |
| 1945 | 24 | #1,717 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 31 | #1,473 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 21 | #1,923 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 53 | #1,079 | 0.04 |
| 1941 | 44 | #1,125 | 0.04 |
| 1940 | 17 | #1,999 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 49 | #1,017 | 0.04 |
| 1938 | 44 | #1,082 | 0.04 |
| 1936 | 7 | #3,540 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 5 | #4,533 | under 0.01 |
| 1932 | 7 | #3,744 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 11 | #2,662 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 6 | #4,293 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 6 | #4,317 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 8 | #3,597 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 5 | #5,201 | under 0.01 |
| 1926 | 5 | #5,234 | under 0.01 |
| 1924 | 8 | #3,833 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 6 | #4,655 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 6 | #4,513 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 5 | #5,201 | under 0.01 |
| 1916 | 7 | #3,726 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Josette a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Josette has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 102 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Josette: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Josette, and how old are they?
5,940 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 89% of the 6,659 Americans ever recorded as Josette. The median Josette alive today is 50 years old; half are between 26 and 58.
The 2020 Census counted 6,678 people named Josette (6,654 women and girls, 24 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,626 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 | 134 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 825 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,380 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 904 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 781 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 917 |
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 Josette born?
The states with the most babies named Josette are New York, California and Texas, with 56% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 799 | #2,239 | 1.6× |
| California | 769 | #3,304 | 1.1× |
| Texas | 353 | #1,744 | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 267 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 200 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Illinois | 185 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Michigan | 133 | #1,012 | 0.5× |
| New Jersey | 128 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Florida | 116 | #1,605 | 0.5× |
| Louisiana | 102 | not ranked | 0.8× |
Where Josette is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Josette is most over-represented in New York: since 1916 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 girls’ 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 Josette 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 7,258 babies since 1880, Josette is the most given (92% of them). In 2025 it was given to 109 of their 109 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 Josette
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 Josette and names like it
- Compare Josette and JosettaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sJosette peaked in 1968.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Josette since 1910.
- French namesWiktionary’s origin for Josette: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1968The year the most babies were named Josette.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Josette alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with JMost given first.