Joshwa
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "YHWH is salvation".
Name Census estimates that about 436 living Americans carry the first name Joshwa. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Joshwa today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joshwa births was 2004 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joshwa. 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
436
~ 1 in 786,134 Americans
Peak year
2004
25 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2017 SSA rank
#13,183
Tracked since 1975
Popularity
Joshwa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joshwa from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 179 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
Joshwa 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 Joshwa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Joshwas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Joshwa
The name Joshwa is a variant spelling of the Hebrew name Joshua, which has its roots in the ancient Israelite culture dating back to the 2nd millennium BCE. The name is derived from the Hebrew words "yeho" meaning "Yahweh" (the name of the Jewish God) and "shua" meaning "to save" or "to deliver." Thus, the name Joshwa can be interpreted as "Yahweh is salvation" or "Yahweh delivers."
The name gained significant prominence in the Old Testament of the Bible, where Joshua, the son of Nun, was a central figure who succeeded Moses as the leader of the Israelites and led them into the Promised Land of Canaan. The Book of Joshua, one of the books of the Hebrew Bible, details his life and military conquests.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Joshwa can be found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of ancient Jewish texts dating back to the 3rd century BCE. The name also appears in various other ancient texts and inscriptions from the region.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Joshwa or its variations. One of the earliest was Joshua ben Hananiah, a Jewish sage who lived in the 1st century CE and was a prominent member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high court.
Another well-known figure was Joshua the Stylite, a Syrian monk and chronicler who lived in the 6th century CE and wrote an important account of the Byzantine-Sassanid wars.
In the 16th century, Joshua Falk ben Alexander HaCohen Katz, a renowned Rabbi and Talmudic scholar, made significant contributions to Jewish law and theology.
Moving to the 18th century, Joshua Reynolds, an English painter and one of the most prominent portraitists of his time, was born in 1723 and left a lasting impact on the art world.
In the 19th century, Joshua Norton, a eccentric San Franciscan who proclaimed himself the "Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico" in 1859, gained notoriety for his colorful life and claims to imperial authority.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have borne the name Joshwa or its variations, reflecting its enduring presence across cultures and time periods.
People
Joshwa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joshwa 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
Joshwa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joshwa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 436 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joshwa 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 786,134 US residents.
Is Joshwa a common name?
We classify Joshwa 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, 449 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joshwa most popular?
The single biggest year for Joshwa was 2004, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joshwa is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Joshwa a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Joshwa 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.
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.