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NameAlmanac

Joshua

Boys’ name Recorded 1880-2025

Joshua was given to 4,773 boys in 2025, #66 among boys’ names; 1,253,882 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).

An estimated 1.19 million Americans named Joshua and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (95% of everyone recorded); the median is 34 years old and half are between 24 and 42.

Joshua is the #14 most common first name among living American men and boys, by this estimate.

Babies named Joshua each year, first recorded in 1880
Joshua, 1880-2025; highest in 1989.10k20k30k40k50k188019001920194019601980200020251989 peak: 44,308
Joshua, 1880-2025; highest in 1989.10k20k30k40k50k188019001920194019601980200020251989 peak: 44,308
Joshua, 1880-2025; highest in 1989.10k20k30k40k50k18801905193019551980200520251989 peak: 44,308
Joshua, 1880-2025; highest in 1989.10k20k30k40k50k18801930198020251989 peak: 44,308

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

Joshua or JoshuahNames of the 1980sNames in California

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

What does Joshua mean?

Wiktionary, English section

Joshua is “a male given name from Hebrew.” Its etymology gives the senses “Yahweh” (יהוה) and “Yahweh is salvation” (meaning).

From Biblical Hebrew יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (Yehoshúa'), perhaps from הוֹשֵׁעַ (Hoshéa') with addition of יהוה (YHWH, “Yahweh”), thus meaning “Yahweh is salvation”. See הוֹשִׁיעַ (hoshía', “to save”). By cognate a direct equivalent to Jesus via Latin Iēsūs and Ancient Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs) from Aramaic יֵשׁוּע (Yēšū́ʿ), akin to Hebrew יֵשׁוּעַ (Yeshúa'), a variant of Yehoshúa'. The Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament consistently render the two Hebrew names Yehoshúa' (whence Joshua) and Yeshúa' (whence Jeshua) into Koine Greek as Iēsoûs (whence Jesus).

/ˈd͡ʒɑʃ(j)u.ə/

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary, entry Joshua (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 Joshua?

#66 among boys’ names, 2025

Joshua fell from #33 in 2015 to #66 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 5.1 to 2.8 per 1,000.

44,308 babies in 1989, the peak

Joshua peaked in 1989, when 44,308 babies were given it (44,100 boys, #4 among boys’ names). The 4,773 births of 2025 are 11% of that peak.

Joshua by year
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
20254,773#662.8
20245,268#573.1
20235,070#603.0
20225,197#603.0
20215,531#583.2
20206,015#533.5
20196,631#483.7
20187,446#404.1
20178,353#384.5
20169,258#354.9
Every recorded year (146)
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
20159,850#335.1
201410,929#255.7
201311,861#216.3
201212,681#176.7
201113,797#147.3
201015,467#118.1
200917,671#68.9
200819,231#49.4
200720,669#410.0
200622,336#310.9
200523,261#311.6
200424,214#312.2
200325,106#312.7
200225,998#313.4
200126,024#413.4
200027,543#414.0
199927,265#414.2
199828,095#414.7
199728,289#515.0
199629,175#515.4
199530,720#516.1
199431,374#416.2
199333,590#417.1
199236,221#418.1
199141,226#420.4
199043,237#421.0
198944,100#422.0
198842,653#422.3
198740,002#421.4
198637,542#420.4
198542,194#422.8
198440,266#422.3
198336,687#520.5
198238,004#720.9
198139,024#621.8
198036,052#720.2
197931,120#918.1
197825,204#1215.4
197722,068#1413.4
197616,845#1810.7
197514,567#269.3
197411,599#297.4
19738,057#425.2
19725,033#593.1
19713,650#802.1
19702,175#1501.2
19691,321#1970.74
1968731#2710.42
1967563#3140.32
1966486#3400.27
1965461#3520.25
1964389#4090.20
1963372#4170.18
1962335#4360.16
1961354#4230.17
1960314#4550.15
1959328#4410.15
1958276#4770.13
1957273#4670.13
1956239#4900.11
1955245#4700.12
1954193#5230.09
1953164#5510.08
1952178#5250.09
1951165#5290.09
1950160#5360.09
1949183#4900.10
1948129#5890.07
1947141#5700.08
1946113#6080.07
194597#6150.07
1944104#6020.08
194395#6590.07
1942111#5960.08
194193#6330.08
194090#6280.08
1939101#5710.09
193871#7270.06
193792#6080.09
1936101#5750.10
193580#6660.08
1934106#5750.10
1933102#5710.10
1932111#5620.11
193194#6140.09
193090#6470.08
192974#7310.07
1928118#5630.11
1927117#5720.10
1926105#6130.09
1925109#6060.10
1924114#5960.10
1923129#5410.12
1922124#5720.11
1921125#5640.11
1920128#5440.12
1919139#5060.14
1918118#5530.12
1917122#5230.13
191699#5840.11
1915136#4730.16
191487#5300.13
191378#4920.15
191260#5080.14
191143#4490.19
191044#4010.23
190928#4930.17
190829#4600.19
190726#4600.18
190627#4270.20
190518#5570.14
190419#5020.15
190321#4590.18
190217#5300.14
190122#4000.21
190036#3710.24
189924#3800.23
189839#2990.32
189729#3480.26
189630#3540.25
189529#3430.25
189424#3830.21
189323#3770.20
189241#2850.34
189124#3540.24
189024#3650.22
188933#3000.30
188850#2470.41
188741#2470.40
188655#2290.50
188543#2540.40
188441#2660.36
188355#2020.53
188250#2360.44
188140#2490.40
188057#2120.52

Download Joshua’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 Joshua a boy’s or a girl’s name?

Joshua has been given almost only to boys: 4,953 girls in 146 years of records.

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

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

1.19 million alive in 2026, estimated

That is 95% of the 1,253,882 Americans ever recorded as Joshua. The median Joshua alive today is 34 years old; half are between 24 and 42.

The 2020 Census counted 939,718 people named Joshua (1,468 women and girls, 938,250 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,179,587 born in the U.S. The Census count is 20% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.

Alive today, by age

100-1092
90-9966
80-89324
70-791,100
60-692,780
50-5957,900
40-49324,000
30-39 (median)356,000
20-29253,000
10-19140,000
0-953,900

Alive today, by generation

By generation
GenerationBornAlive
Silent Generation1928-1945336
Baby Boomers1946-19643,160
Generation X1965-1980165,000
Millennials1981-1996578,000
Generation Z1997-2012352,000
Generation Alpha2013-202595,600

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 Joshua born?

The states with the most babies named Joshua are Texas, California and Florida, with 31% of its births recorded by state in 2025.

States with the most births: girls and boys together; rank among boys’ names in the state in 2025
StateBirths 2025Rank, boysvs. national
Texas596#580.9×
California523#710.8×
Florida365#501.1×
New York258#630.8×
North Carolina188#541.2×
Georgia179#541.1×
New Jersey168#530.7×
Pennsylvania155#780.9×
Ohio149#761.1×
Illinois138#830.8×

Where Joshua is more common than its national share predicts

Relative to its national share, Joshua is most over-represented in North Carolina: since 1910 it was given 1.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.

North Carolina1.19×
Tennessee1.19×
West Virginia1.16×
Kentucky1.15×
Georgia1.13×
Indiana1.11×
Alabama1.10×
Maine1.07×

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 Joshua 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 8 names spelled alike, given to 1,259,387 babies since 1880, Joshua is the most given (100% of them). In 2025 it was given to 4,773 of their 4,788 babies (100%), again the most given.

Joshua and the names spelled alike
NameSince 1880Births 2025Peak year
Joshua1,253,8824,7731989
Joshuah2,873101989
Joshue1,11852004
Josha454under 51982
Jousha432under 51985
Joshau247under 51985
Joshaua209under 51981
Joshia172under 52009

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 Joshua

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

NameRecorded1880-2025
Ryan991,747
Justin794,273
Jared207,119
Jonathan874,440
Brandon774,654

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 Joshua and names like it

  1. Compare Joshua and JoshuahBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
  2. The most given names of the 1980sJoshua peaked in 1989.
  3. California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Joshua since 1910.
  4. Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Joshua: every such name, by how often it is given.
  5. The top names of 1989The year the most babies were named Joshua.
  6. The names of the MillennialsMost people named Joshua alive today were born 1981-1996.
  7. Names starting with JMost given first.

Compare Joshua with another name