Josif
A masculine given name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add".
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Josif. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Josif today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Josif births was 1998 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Josif. 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 Josif with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Josif. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
1998
5 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2003 SSA rank
#11,778
Tracked since 1998
Census
Josif in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 246 people with the first name Josif, which placed it at #33,566 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
#33,566
National first-name rank
People counted
246
246 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Josif
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Josif is White at 87.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.5%) and Black (3.3%). 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 Josif 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 Josif at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.8% · 216
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 16
- Black or African American3.3% · 8
- Two or more races1.6% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 2
Popularity
Josif: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Josif from the 1990s through to the 2000s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 5 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Josif 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 Josif 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 Josif
The name Josif originates from the Hebrew name Yosef, which means "he will add" or "he will increase". It has its roots in the biblical figure Joseph, the son of Jacob and Rachel, who is a prominent character in the Book of Genesis.
The name Josif is a variant spelling found in several Slavic languages, including Russian, Ukrainian, and Bulgarian. This variant likely emerged due to the influence of the Byzantine Empire and the spread of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in the region.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Josif can be found in the Old Church Slavonic translation of the Bible, dating back to the 9th century. This translation played a crucial role in the spread of the name throughout the Slavic world.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Josif. One of the most famous is Josif Vissarionovich Stalin (1878-1953), the former leader of the Soviet Union. Another prominent figure is Josif Brodsky (1940-1996), a Russian-American poet and essayist who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1987.
In the realm of religion, Josif Sanin (1837-1891) was a Russian Orthodox monk and saint known for his asceticism and spiritual teachings. Josif Volotsky (1439-1515) was a prominent Russian Orthodox monk and theologian who played a significant role in the development of the Church's monastic tradition.
Furthermore, Josif Semashko (1798-1868) was a prominent figure in the Uniate Church (also known as the Greek Catholic Church), which sought to unite Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions. He served as the Uniate Metropolitan of Kyiv and was instrumental in the church's growth in the Russian Empire.
These examples illustrate the historical significance and widespread use of the name Josif across various cultures, religions, and contexts throughout history.
People
Josif + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Josif 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
Josif: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Josif?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Josif 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 34,275,434 US residents.
Is Josif a common name?
We classify Josif as "Very Rare". It ranks above 28.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Josif most popular?
The single biggest year for Josif was 1998, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Josif is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Josif in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 246 people with the name Josif, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,566 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 Josif 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 Josif?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Josif leans strongly male. 245 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 3 female bearers (1.2%). 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 Josif?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Josif is White at 87.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.5%) and Black (3.3%). 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 Josif most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Josif in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.8% (216 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 Josif in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Josif a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Josif 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 Josif still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Josif 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 Josif 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 Josif?
You can see how many people have the name Josif on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.