Joscelyn
A feminine name of French origin meaning "where plenty abounds".
Name Census estimates that about 2,044 living Americans carry the first name Joscelyn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Joscelyn today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joscelyn births was 2007 (117 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joscelyn. 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 Joscelyn with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 167,688 Americans
Peak year
2007
117 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,836
Tracked since 1924
Census
Joscelyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,926 people with the first name Joscelyn, which placed it at #7,770 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
#7,770
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,926 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joscelyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joscelyn is White at 45.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.9%) and Black (15.2%). 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 Joscelyn 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 Joscelyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.4% · 874
- Hispanic or Latino30.9% · 596
- Black or African American15.2% · 292
- Two or more races5.5% · 105
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 46
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 13
Popularity
Joscelyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joscelyn from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 807 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joscelyn 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 Joscelyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Joscelyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Joscelyn, while Oklahoma, Iowa, Wisconsin recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 46 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Joscelyn
The name Joscelyn has its origins in the medieval French language, derived from the Norman French variant "Joscelin" or "Goscelin." This name can be traced back to the Old German name "Gaudissalinus," which combines the elements "gaud" (joy or gladness) and "sal" (room or hall). It was initially popularized in England following the Norman Conquest in 1066.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Joscelyn appears in the 11th century, when Joscelin de Courtenay (c. 1060-1131) was a notable crusader and the Count of Edessa during the First Crusade. Another prominent figure bearing this name was Joscelin III of Edessa (c. 1134-1200), who ruled the County of Edessa in the 12th century.
During the Middle Ages, the name Joscelyn was particularly prevalent among members of the nobility and clergy. Joscelin de Brakelonde (c. 1180-1230) was a chronicler and monk at the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds in England. Joscelin de Vaux (fl. 1200-1238) was an English nobleman and served as Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
In the 13th century, Joscelin of Trent (c. 1210-1268) was a renowned English philosopher and theologian. He was a member of the Franciscan Order and wrote extensively on metaphysics and logic.
Moving into the early modern period, Sir Josceline Percy (1644-1670) was an English aristocrat and member of the House of Percy, one of the most powerful families in northern England during the 16th and 17th centuries.
While the name Joscelyn was historically more common among men, it has gained popularity as a feminine name in more recent times. However, it is important to note that historical records and references to notable individuals with this name primarily date back to the Middle Ages and the early modern era.
People
Joscelyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joscelyn 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
Joscelyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joscelyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,044 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joscelyn 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 167,688 US residents.
Is Joscelyn a common name?
We classify Joscelyn as "Rare". It ranks above 93.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,114 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joscelyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Joscelyn was 2007, when 117 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joscelyn is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joscelyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,926 people with the name Joscelyn, or 0.64 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,770 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 Joscelyn 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 Joscelyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joscelyn leans strongly female. 1,838 people counted with this name were female (95.2%), compared with 93 male bearers (4.8%). 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 Joscelyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joscelyn is White at 45.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.9%) and Black (15.2%). 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 Joscelyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Joscelyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.4% (874 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 Joscelyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joscelyn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joscelyn in the SSA data are female. 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 Joscelyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joscelyn 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 Joscelyn 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 Americans are named Joscelyn?
Find out how many people share the name Joscelyn on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.