Joshuwa
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "Yahweh is salvation".
Name Census estimates that about 381 living Americans carry the first name Joshuwa. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Joshuwa today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joshuwa births was 1989 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joshuwa. 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
381
~ 1 in 899,618 Americans
Peak year
1989
22 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2008 SSA rank
#7,984
Tracked since 1976
Census
Joshuwa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 282 people with the first name Joshuwa, which placed it at #30,717 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
#30,717
National first-name rank
People counted
282
282 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joshuwa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joshuwa is White at 57.4%. The next largest groups are Black (21.3%) and Hispanic (10.6%). 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 Joshuwa 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 Joshuwa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.4% · 162
- Black or African American21.3% · 60
- Hispanic or Latino10.6% · 30
- Two or more races8.2% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 3
Popularity
Joshuwa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joshuwa 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 131 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Joshuwa remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joshuwa 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 Joshuwa 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 Joshuwa
The name Joshuwa is derived from the Hebrew name Yehoshua, which means "Yahweh is salvation" or "Yahweh saves." It is a variant spelling of the more common name Joshua. The name can be traced back to ancient times, and it appears in the Old Testament of the Bible as the name of the successor of Moses who led the Israelites into the Promised Land of Canaan.
The earliest recorded example of the name Joshuwa is found in the Book of Exodus, which is believed to have been written between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE. In the Bible, Joshuwa (Joshua) is described as a military leader who played a crucial role in the conquest of Canaan.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Joshuwa. One of the most famous was Joshuwa Ben Hananiah (c. 1st century CE), a Jewish rabbi and scholar who lived in ancient Judea during the time of the Roman Empire. He is known for his teachings on the Oral Torah and his role in shaping the development of Rabbinic Judaism.
Another notable figure was Joshuwa Ben Levi (c. 3rd century CE), a Jewish Talmudic scholar and poet who lived in ancient Palestine. He is remembered for his contributions to the compilation of the Babylonian Talmud and his poetic works, which were widely admired in his time.
In the Middle Ages, there was Joshuwa ibn Shu'aib (c. 10th century), an Egyptian-born Jewish physician and philosopher who wrote extensively on medicine, astronomy, and other scientific topics. His works were widely read and influential in the Islamic world and Europe.
During the Renaissance, Joshuwa Archivolti (c. 15th century) was an Italian architect and engineer who is credited with designing several notable buildings in Rome, including the Palazzo della Cancelleria and the Palazzo dei Banchi.
In more recent times, Joshuwa Nkomo (1917-1999) was a prominent Zimbabwean politician and revolutionary leader who played a significant role in the struggle for independence from British colonial rule. He served as Vice President of Zimbabwe from 1987 until his death.
People
Joshuwa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joshuwa 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
Joshuwa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joshuwa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 381 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joshuwa 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 899,618 US residents.
Is Joshuwa a common name?
We classify Joshuwa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 393 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joshuwa most popular?
The single biggest year for Joshuwa was 1989, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joshuwa 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 Joshuwa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 282 people with the name Joshuwa, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,717 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 Joshuwa 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 Joshuwa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Joshuwa appears almost entirely male. Of the 275 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Joshuwa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joshuwa is White at 57.4%. The next largest groups are Black (21.3%) and Hispanic (10.6%). 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 Joshuwa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Joshuwa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.4% (162 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 Joshuwa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joshuwa a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joshuwa 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 Joshuwa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joshuwa 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 Joshuwa 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 Joshuwa?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Joshuwa on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.