Joshiah
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "God's gift" or "gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 113 living Americans carry the first name Joshiah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Joshiah today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joshiah births was 2005 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joshiah. 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
113
~ 1 in 3,033,224 Americans
Peak year
2005
10 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2021 SSA rank
#9,236
Tracked since 2000
Census
Joshiah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 163 people with the first name Joshiah, which placed it at #43,340 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
#43,340
National first-name rank
People counted
163
163 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
36.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joshiah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joshiah is Black at 36.2%. The next largest groups are White (24.5%) and Hispanic (22.7%). 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 Joshiah 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 Joshiah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American36.2% · 59
- White24.5% · 40
- Hispanic or Latino22.7% · 37
- Two or more races6.7% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.5% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native4.3% · 7
Popularity
Joshiah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joshiah from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 59 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
Joshiah 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 Joshiah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Joshiah
The given name Joshiah is a combination of two Hebrew names, Joshua and Josiah. It is believed to have originated in the biblical era, around the 6th century BCE. The first part of the name, Josh, is derived from the Hebrew name Yehoshua, which means "Yahweh is salvation" or "Yahweh saves." The second part, iah, is derived from Yoshiyahu, which means "Yahweh is my support."
This name's origins can be traced back to the Old Testament, where it is mentioned in various contexts. Joshua, the successor of Moses, is a prominent figure in the Book of Joshua, leading the Israelites into the Promised Land. Josiah, on the other hand, was a righteous king of Judah who initiated religious reforms and restored the worship of Yahweh.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Joshiah can be found in the Book of Ezra, which mentions a Levite by this name who returned from Babylonian captivity. However, the name gained more prominence during the Middle Ages, particularly in Europe and the British Isles.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Joshiah. One such figure was Joshiah Bartlett (1729-1795), a physician and one of the signers of the American Declaration of Independence. Another was Joshiah Calef (1648-1719), a merchant and author from Boston who challenged the infamous Salem witch trials.
In the 19th century, Joshiah Wedgwood (1799-1888), a member of the renowned Wedgwood family of potters, made significant contributions to the ceramic industry in England. Joshiah Royce (1855-1916), an American philosopher and a leading proponent of absolute idealism, was also a notable figure during this period.
A more recent example is Joshiah Thorn (1928-2022), an American businessman and philanthropist who founded the Thorn Group, a successful industrial conglomerate. His philanthropic efforts focused on education and healthcare initiatives.
While the name Joshiah has biblical roots and a rich historical legacy, its usage has been relatively rare compared to the more common variations, such as Joshua and Josiah. Nonetheless, it continues to be a unique and meaningful name with deep religious and cultural significance.
People
Joshiah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joshiah 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
Joshiah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joshiah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 113 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joshiah 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 3,033,224 US residents.
Is Joshiah a common name?
We classify Joshiah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 114 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joshiah most popular?
The single biggest year for Joshiah was 2005, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joshiah is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joshiah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 163 people with the name Joshiah, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,340 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 Joshiah 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 Joshiah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joshiah leans strongly male. 158 people counted with this name were male (97.5%), compared with 4 female bearers (2.5%). 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 Joshiah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joshiah is Black at 36.2%. The next largest groups are White (24.5%) and Hispanic (22.7%). 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 Joshiah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Joshiah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 36.2% (59 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 Joshiah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joshiah a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joshiah 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 Joshiah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joshiah 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 Joshiah 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 are called Joshiah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.