Josaiah
A masculine name derived from a Biblical Hebrew name meaning "God has healed".
Name Census estimates that about 424 living Americans carry the first name Josaiah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Josaiah today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Josaiah births was 2008 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Josaiah. 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.
People living today
424
~ 1 in 808,383 Americans
Peak year
2008
25 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,324
Tracked since 1996
Census
Josaiah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 349 people with the first name Josaiah, which placed it at #26,600 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
#26,600
National first-name rank
People counted
349
349 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
49.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Josaiah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Josaiah is Hispanic at 49.6%. The next largest groups are Black (25.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (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 Josaiah 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 Josaiah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino49.6% · 173
- Black or African American25.2% · 88
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.0% · 35
- White8.9% · 31
- Two or more races5.7% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2
Popularity
Josaiah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Josaiah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 169 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Josaiah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Josaiah 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 Josaiah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Josaiahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Josaiah
The name Josaiah is a combination of two Hebrew names - Josiah and Yahweh. It originated in ancient Israel, likely during the period of the Babylonian exile in the 6th century BC. The first part of the name, "Josi," is derived from the Hebrew name Yoshiyahu, meaning "Yahweh is salvation." The second part, "ah," is a shortened form of the name Yahweh, the Hebrew name for God.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Josaiah can be found in the Book of Ezra, a book in the Hebrew Bible. In Ezra 8:10, a man named Josaiah is mentioned as one of the descendants of Bani who returned to Jerusalem from Babylon with Ezra the scribe.
In the 17th century, Josaiah was occasionally used as a given name among Puritans in England and later in the American colonies. One notable figure with this name was Josaiah Willard (1670-1698), an early American minister and writer from Massachusetts.
Another prominent individual named Josaiah was Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795), the English potter and founder of the Wedgwood company. Although his name was spelled slightly differently, it is believed to have the same Hebrew origins as Josaiah.
In the 19th century, Josaiah Quincy (1772-1864) was a prominent American politician and diplomat who served as the sixth President of Harvard University. He was also a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Mayor of Boston.
In more recent times, Josaiah Tincup (1901-1962) was a renowned Navajo artist and painter known for his depictions of Native American life and culture. His works are displayed in various museums and galleries across the United States.
While the name Josaiah has its roots in ancient Hebrew and biblical times, it has been used throughout history in various cultures and contexts, often as a variant of the more common name Josiah.
People
Josaiah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Josaiah 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
Josaiah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Josaiah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 424 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Josaiah 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 808,383 US residents.
Is Josaiah a common name?
We classify Josaiah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 428 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Josaiah most popular?
The single biggest year for Josaiah was 2008, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Josaiah is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Josaiah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 349 people with the name Josaiah, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,600 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 Josaiah 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 Josaiah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Josaiah leans strongly male. 343 people counted with this name were male (95.5%), compared with 16 female bearers (4.5%). 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 Josaiah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Josaiah is Hispanic at 49.6%. The next largest groups are Black (25.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (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 Josaiah most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Josaiah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.6% (173 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 Josaiah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Josaiah a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Josaiah 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 Josaiah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Josaiah 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 Josaiah 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 are called Josaiah?
Find out how many people share the name Josaiah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.