Joesef
Of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add" or "God will increase".
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Joesef. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Joesef today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joesef births was 1992 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joesef. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Joesef. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
1992
5 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2007 SSA rank
#13,301
Tracked since 1992
Popularity
Joesef: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joesef from the 1990s through to the 2000s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 5 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joesef by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Joesef during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Joesef
The name Joesef has its origins in the Hebrew language and is a variant spelling of the name Joseph. It traces its roots back to the biblical figure Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachel, whose story is told in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible.
The name Joseph is derived from the Hebrew word "yasaf," which means "he will add" or "he will increase." It was a popular name among the ancient Israelites and has been used by Jews and Christians throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Joseph is in the Book of Genesis, which is believed to have been written between the 15th and 13th centuries BCE. In the biblical narrative, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers but later rose to become the second-in-command to the Pharaoh of Egypt.
Over the centuries, the name Joseph has been borne by many notable figures, including Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy Jewish follower of Jesus who provided his own tomb for Jesus' burial, and Saint Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the foster father of Jesus Christ in Christian tradition.
Other famous individuals with the name Joesef or its variants include Joesef Stalin (1878-1953), the Soviet dictator who led the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death; Joesef Haydn (1732-1809), the renowned Austrian composer of the Classical period; and Joesef Conrad (1857-1924), the Polish-born British novelist known for works such as Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim.
Additionally, Joesef Brodsky (1940-1996) was a Russian-American poet and essayist who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1987, while Joesef Pulitzer (1847-1911) was a Hungarian-American publisher who established the prestigious Pulitzer Prizes for achievements in journalism, literature, and musical composition.
People
Joesef + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joesef as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Joesef: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joesef?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joesef going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 34,275,434 US residents.
Is Joesef a common name?
We classify Joesef as "Very Rare". It ranks above 28.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joesef most popular?
The single biggest year for Joesef was 1992, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joesef is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Joesef in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joesef a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joesef in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Joesef still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joesef in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Joesef can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have Joesef as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.