Joseh
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add".
Name Census estimates that about 134 living Americans carry the first name Joseh. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Joseh today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joseh births was 1986 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joseh. 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
134
~ 1 in 2,557,868 Americans
Peak year
1986
22 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
1987 SSA rank
#4,411
Tracked since 1954
Census
Joseh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 518 people with the first name Joseh, which placed it at #20,076 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
#20,076
National first-name rank
People counted
518
518 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joseh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joseh is White at 71.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.4%) and Black (9.8%). 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 Joseh 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 Joseh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.0% · 368
- Hispanic or Latino17.4% · 90
- Black or African American9.8% · 51
- Two or more races1.0% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Joseh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joseh from the 1950s through to the 1980s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 88 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
Joseh 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 Joseh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Josehs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Joseh
The given name Joseh is believed to have originated from the Hebrew name Yosef, which is derived from the root word yasaf, meaning "to add" or "to increase." The name Yosef appeared in the biblical Book of Genesis, where it was borne by one of the twelve sons of Jacob, later known as Joseph.
The name Joseh is a variant spelling of the more common Joseph, which has been widely used across various cultures and religions. In ancient times, the name was popular among Jews and early Christians, who revered the biblical figure Joseph for his righteousness and wisdom.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Joseh can be found in the writings of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who lived in the first century AD. Josephus was born as Yosef ben Matityahu and later adopted the Roman name Josephus.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Joseh or its variants. One of the most famous was Saint Joseph, the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus Christ in Christian tradition. He is venerated as the patron saint of workers and families.
Another significant figure was Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy Jewish follower of Jesus who provided the tomb for Christ's burial. He is mentioned in all four Gospels of the New Testament.
In the Islamic tradition, the prophet Yusuf (Joseph) is revered as a significant figure and is the subject of an entire chapter in the Quran, known as Surah Yusuf. This chapter recounts the story of Joseph's life and his trials and tribulations.
During the Middle Ages, several rulers and religious figures bore the name Joseh or Joseph. One notable example is Joseph ben Meir ibn Migash, a renowned 11th-century Spanish Jewish philosopher and theologian.
In more recent times, notable individuals with the name Joseh or Joseph include Joseph Stalin (1878-1953), the leader of the Soviet Union, and Joseph Beuys (1921-1986), a influential German artist and theorist.
People
Joseh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joseh 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
Joseh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joseh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 134 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joseh 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 2,557,868 US residents.
Is Joseh a common name?
We classify Joseh as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 143 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joseh most popular?
The single biggest year for Joseh was 1986, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joseh is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joseh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 518 people with the name Joseh, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,076 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 Joseh 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 Joseh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joseh appears almost entirely male. Of the 529 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Joseh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joseh is White at 71.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.4%) and Black (9.8%). 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 Joseh most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Joseh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.0% (368 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 Joseh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joseh a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joseh 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 Joseh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joseh 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 Joseh 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 Joseh?
See how many people share the name Joseh on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.