Josette
A French feminine name meaning "Jehovah increases" or "she will add".
Name Census estimates that about 5,583 living Americans carry the first name Josette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Josette today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Josette births was 1968 (504 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Josette. 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 Josette with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.6K
~ 1 in 61,393 Americans
Peak year
1968
504 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,218
Tracked since 1916
Census
Josette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,679 people with the first name Josette, which placed it at #3,220 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
#3,220
National first-name rank
People counted
6.7K
6,679 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Josette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Josette is White at 47.4%. The next largest groups are Black (29.7%) and Hispanic (14.5%). 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 Josette 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 Josette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.4% · 3,167
- Black or African American29.7% · 1,981
- Hispanic or Latino14.5% · 971
- Two or more races3.9% · 259
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 218
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 83
Popularity
Josette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Josette from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 1,435 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Josette 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 Josette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Josettes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 28 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Josette, while Wisconsin, Massachusetts, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 121 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Josette
The name Josette originated from the French language and culture. It is a diminutive form of the name Josephine, which is the feminine version of the masculine name Joseph. Joseph is derived from the Hebrew name Yosef, meaning "he will add" or "he will increase."
The name Josette first appeared in France during the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century. It was a popular name among French nobility and aristocracy during this time period. The earliest recorded example of the name Josette dates back to the 14th century, when it was mentioned in a French literary work.
One of the most famous historical figures with the name Josette was Josette Day, a French actress and singer who lived from 1914 to 1978. She was known for her role in the 1938 film "La Marseillaise" and her performances in various French cabarets and music halls.
Another notable Josette in history was Josette Frank, a French Resistance fighter during World War II. Born in 1917, she risked her life to help Allied soldiers escape from Nazi-occupied France. She was captured and executed by the Nazis in 1944.
In the world of literature, Josette is the name of a character in the novel "The Black Tulip" by Alexandre Dumas. Published in 1850, the novel is set in the Netherlands during the 17th century and follows the story of a horticulturist's quest to create the perfect black tulip.
The name Josette also appears in religious texts, such as the Bible. In the Book of Joshua, there is a reference to a town called Beth-shemesh, which means "house of the sun" in Hebrew. Some scholars believe that this town's name may be related to the name Josette, as it could be derived from the Hebrew word "shemesh," meaning "sun."
Another historical figure with the name Josette was Josette Bauer, a Swiss artist and painter who lived from 1904 to 1992. She was known for her abstract expressionist works and her involvement in the Zurich Dada movement of the early 20th century.
People
Josette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Josette 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
Josette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Josette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,583 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Josette 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 61,393 US residents.
Is Josette a common name?
We classify Josette as "Rare". It ranks above 96.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,549 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Josette most popular?
The single biggest year for Josette was 1968, when 504 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Josette is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Josette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,679 people with the name Josette, or 2.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,220 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 Josette 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 Josette?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Josette appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,678 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Josette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Josette is White at 47.4%. The next largest groups are Black (29.7%) and Hispanic (14.5%). 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 Josette most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Josette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.4% (3,167 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 Josette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Josette a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Josette 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 Josette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Josette 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 Josette 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 Josette as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.