Joshu
Joshu was last recorded in 1994, when 7 babies were given it; 96 Americans have been recorded with it between 1971 and 1994 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Joshu by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Joshu?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #7,330, in 1994; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
10 babies in 1988, the peak
Joshu peaked in 1988, when 10 boys were given it, #4,594 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 7 | #7,330 | 3.6 |
| 1993 | 8 | #6,514 | 4.1 |
| 1992 | 5 | #9,074 | 2.5 |
| 1989 | 9 | #5,372 | 4.5 |
| 1988 | 10 | #4,594 | 5.2 |
| 1987 | 6 | #6,508 | 3.2 |
| 1986 | 7 | #5,623 | 3.8 |
| 1985 | 9 | #4,500 | 4.9 |
| 1983 | 6 | #5,855 | 3.3 |
| 1982 | 8 | #4,802 | 4.4 |
Every recorded year (13)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 7 | #5,099 | 4.1 |
| 1974 | 8 | #4,007 | 5.1 |
| 1971 | 6 | #4,656 | 3.4 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Joshu a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Joshu has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 13 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Joshu: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Joshu, and how old are they?
An estimated 90 Americans named Joshu and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026, too few to state an age range. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 599 people named Joshu (3 women and girls, 596 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 92 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6.5 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Joshu rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
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).
Names spelled alike
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. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Joshu
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.