Joesph
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add".
Name Census estimates that about 10,975 living Americans carry the first name Joesph. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Joesph today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joesph births was 1957 (320 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joesph. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Joesph with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 31,230 Americans
Peak year
1957
320 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,878
Tracked since 1881
Census
Joesph in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 12,436 people with the first name Joesph, which placed it at #2,146 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#2,146
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
12,436 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joesph
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joesph is White at 72.5%. The next largest groups are Black (11.5%) and Hispanic (10.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Joesph described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Joesph at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.5% · 9,016
- Black or African American11.5% · 1,433
- Hispanic or Latino10.0% · 1,249
- Two or more races3.1% · 384
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 185
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 169
Gender
Gender distribution for Joesph
Out of the 15,649 babies given the name Joesph since 1880, 99.9% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Joesph as a male name
- Ranked #6,291 in 2024
- 14 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1957 (320 births)
Joesph as a female name
- Ranked #5,878 in 1968
- 7 female births in 1968
- Peak: 1968 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joesph appears almost entirely male. Of the 12,432 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Joesph: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joesph from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 2,547 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joesph 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 Joesph during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Joesphs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 38 states and territories. California, New York, Ohio recorded the most babies named Joesph, while Utah, Rhode Island, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 260 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Joesph
The name Joesph is derived from the Hebrew name Yosef, which means "he will add" or "he will increase". It has its origins in ancient Hebrew culture, dating back to the biblical times of the Old Testament.
The earliest recorded use of the name Joesph can be found in the Book of Genesis, where it refers to the son of Jacob and Rachel. Joseph, as he is known in English, played a pivotal role in the biblical narrative, becoming a prominent figure in ancient Egypt.
One of the most famous Josephs in history was Joseph, the husband of Mary and the stepfather of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. His life and role in the nativity story have made him a revered figure in Christianity.
During the Middle Ages, the name Joesph gained popularity across Europe, particularly in regions with strong Christian traditions. Notable historical figures bearing this name include Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus mentioned in the Gospels, and Joseph of Cupertino, a 17th-century Italian saint known for his mystical levitations.
In the realm of literature, Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), the Polish-British novelist famous for works like "Heart of Darkness" and "Lord Jim", was a prominent bearer of the name. Another literary figure was Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996), a Russian-American poet and essayist who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1987.
The name Joesph has also been associated with political and military leaders throughout history. Joseph Stalin (1878-1953), the notorious Soviet dictator, and Joseph Bonaparte (1768-1844), the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte and the former King of Naples and Spain, are two notable examples.
Other famous Josephs include Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), the English chemist and philosopher credited with the discovery of oxygen, and Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), the renowned Austrian composer of the Classical period.
People
Joesph + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joesph 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
Joesph: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joesph?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,975 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joesph 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 31,230 US residents.
Is Joesph a common name?
We classify Joesph as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15,649 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joesph most popular?
The single biggest year for Joesph was 1957, when 320 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joesph is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joesph in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 12,436 people with the name Joesph, or 4.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,146 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Joesph in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Joesph?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joesph appears almost entirely male. Of the 12,432 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Joesph?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joesph is White at 72.5%. The next largest groups are Black (11.5%) and Hispanic (10.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Joesph most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Joesph in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.5% (9,016 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
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 Joesph in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joesph a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Joesph 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 Joesph still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joesph 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 Joesph 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.
How many people share the name Joesph?
Find out how many Americans are named Joesph on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.