Josha
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "wealthy".
Name Census estimates that about 434 living Americans carry the first name Josha. It is a predominantly male name (93.8% of registrations). The average person named Josha today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Josha births was 1982 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Josha. 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
434
~ 1 in 789,757 Americans
Peak year
1982
27 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2005 SSA rank
#10,787
Tracked since 1971
Census
Josha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 971 people with the first name Josha, which placed it at #12,711 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
#12,711
National first-name rank
People counted
971
971 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Josha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Josha is White at 52.3%. The next largest groups are Black (20.3%) and Hispanic (20.2%). 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 Josha 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 Josha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.3% · 508
- Black or African American20.3% · 197
- Hispanic or Latino20.2% · 196
- Two or more races3.4% · 33
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 15
Gender
Gender distribution for Josha
Josha leans heavily male at 93.8% of total registrations, but 28 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Josha as a male name
- Ranked #12,315 in 2005
- 5 male births in 2005
- Peak: 1982 (27 births)
Josha as a female name
- Ranked #10,787 in 1991
- 7 female births in 1991
- Peak: 1976 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Josha leans strongly male. 889 people counted with this name were male (91.6%), compared with 82 female bearers (8.4%).
Popularity
Josha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Josha from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 219 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Josha 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 Josha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Joshas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Josha, while New York, California, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Josha
Josha is a given name with roots in the Hebrew language. Its origins can be traced back to the biblical name Joshua, which means "Yahweh is salvation" or "Yahweh is deliverance" in Hebrew. The name Josha is considered a variant or diminutive form of Joshua.
The name gained prominence in ancient Israel, where Joshua was a prominent figure in the Old Testament. He was the successor of Moses and led the Israelites into the Promised Land of Canaan. The Book of Joshua in the Hebrew Bible recounts his leadership and the conquest of Canaan.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Josha can be found in the Old Testament itself. In the Book of Nehemiah, a man named Josha is mentioned as one of the leaders who helped rebuild the walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Josha. In the 16th century, Josha ben Joseph Halevi was a renowned Jewish scholar and commentator on the Talmud. He lived in Thessaloniki, Greece, and wrote influential works on Jewish law and philosophy.
Another notable Josha was Josha Styu, a 17th-century English playwright and poet. He was born in 1633 and is known for his satirical plays that criticized the societal norms of his time.
In the 19th century, Josha Kapoor was a prominent Indian activist and social reformer. Born in 1845, he campaigned for women's rights and advocated for the abolition of the caste system in India.
During the American Civil War, Josha T. Williams served as a Union Army officer and received the Medal of Honor for his bravery in the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.
A more recent example is Josha Oukah, an Australian artist and sculptor born in 1952. He is renowned for his large-scale public installations and has exhibited his works in numerous galleries and museums around the world.
While the name Josha may have evolved from its Hebrew roots, it has found its way into various cultures and societies, with individuals bearing this name leaving their mark across different fields and eras.
People
Josha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Josha 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
Josha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Josha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 434 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Josha 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 789,757 US residents.
Is Josha a common name?
We classify Josha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 454 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Josha most popular?
The single biggest year for Josha was 1982, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Josha is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Josha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 971 people with the name Josha, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,711 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 Josha 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 Josha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Josha leans strongly male. 889 people counted with this name were male (91.6%), compared with 82 female bearers (8.4%). 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 Josha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Josha is White at 52.3%. The next largest groups are Black (20.3%) and Hispanic (20.2%). 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 Josha most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Josha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.3% (508 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 Josha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Josha a male name?
Yes, 93.8% of people registered as Josha 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 Josha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Josha 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 Josha 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 common is the name Josha?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Josha at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.