Josef
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "He will add".
Name Census estimates that about 8,178 living Americans carry the first name Josef. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Josef today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Josef births was 1999 (220 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Josef. 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 Josef with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
8.2K
~ 1 in 41,912 Americans
Peak year
1999
220 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,286
Tracked since 1900
Census
Josef in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,667 people with the first name Josef, which placed it at #2,517 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
#2,517
National first-name rank
People counted
9.7K
9,667 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Josef
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Josef is White at 73.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.5%) and Black (6.0%). 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 Josef 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 Josef at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.4% · 7,096
- Hispanic or Latino12.5% · 1,204
- Black or African American6.0% · 582
- Two or more races3.9% · 380
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 362
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 43
Popularity
Josef: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Josef from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,833 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
Josef 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 Josef during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Josefs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 31 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Josef, while South Carolina, Alabama, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 166 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Josef
The name Josef has its origins in the Hebrew language and is derived from the name Yosef, which means "he will add" or "he will increase". It is a variant of the name Joseph, with the "ph" sound replaced by an "f".
The name Yosef first appeared in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible, where it was the name given to the son of Jacob and Rachel. Joseph was one of the twelve sons of Jacob and played a significant role in the biblical narrative, eventually becoming a powerful figure in Egypt.
In the New Testament, Josef was the name given to the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus. This biblical figure, known as Saint Joseph, is an important figure in Christianity and is often depicted as a carpenter and a protector of the Holy Family.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Josef dates back to the 4th century, when a Saint Josef of Arimathea was mentioned in Christian texts. In the Middle Ages, the name became more widespread across Europe, particularly in Germanic and Slavic regions.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures with the name Josef. One of the most famous was Josef Stalin (1878-1953), the Soviet dictator who led the Soviet Union during World War II and the Cold War era. Another well-known Josef was Josef Haydn (1732-1809), the Austrian composer who played a key role in the development of the classical music style.
Other notable figures with the name include Josef Lanner (1801-1843), an Austrian composer and violinist known as the "Father of the Viennese Waltz"; Josef Mengele (1911-1979), the infamous Nazi doctor who conducted unethical experiments on prisoners at Auschwitz; and Josef Brodsky (1940-1996), a Russian-American poet and essayist who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1987.
The name Josef has maintained its popularity across various cultures and regions, with variations in spelling and pronunciation. It has been borne by individuals from diverse backgrounds, including artists, musicians, writers, political figures, and religious leaders, reflecting the rich history and cultural significance of this name.
People
Josef + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Josef 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
Josef: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Josef?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,178 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Josef 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 41,912 US residents.
Is Josef a common name?
We classify Josef as "Rare". It ranks above 97.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,112 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Josef most popular?
The single biggest year for Josef was 1999, when 220 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Josef is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Josef in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,667 people with the name Josef, or 3.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,517 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 Josef 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 Josef?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Josef appears almost entirely male. Of the 9,669 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Josef?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Josef is White at 73.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.5%) and Black (6.0%). 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 Josef most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Josef in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.4% (7,096 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 Josef in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Josef a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Josef 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 Josef still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Josef 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 Josef 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 have the name Josef?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Josef, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.