Josph
A masculine name derived from the Hebrew meaning "he will add".
Name Census estimates that about 230 living Americans carry the first name Josph. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Josph today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Josph births was 1957 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Josph. 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
230
~ 1 in 1,490,236 Americans
Peak year
1957
15 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
1989 SSA rank
#6,564
Tracked since 1916
Census
Josph in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 843 people with the first name Josph, which placed it at #14,082 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
#14,082
National first-name rank
People counted
843
843 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Josph
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Josph is White at 65.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.9%) and Black (13.5%). 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 Josph 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 Josph at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.5% · 552
- Hispanic or Latino14.9% · 126
- Black or African American13.5% · 114
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 27
- Two or more races1.8% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 9
Popularity
Josph: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Josph from the 1910s through to the 1980s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 100 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Josph remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Josph 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 Josph during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Josphs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Josph
The name Joseph has its origins in the Hebrew language, derived from the Hebrew name Yosef. It is believed to have originated in ancient times, possibly as early as the Bronze Age. The name Yosef is thought to be derived from the Hebrew root word yasaf, meaning "to add" or "to increase."
In the Old Testament of the Bible, Joseph is a prominent figure, the son of Jacob and Rachel. He is best known for his story in the Book of Genesis, where he is sold into slavery by his brothers but eventually rises to become a powerful figure in Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh. The name Joseph gained widespread popularity among early Christians due to its biblical significance.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Joseph is found in the Book of Exodus, which mentions a man named Joseph who was the son of Jacob and Rachel. This biblical figure lived around the 17th century BC.
Throughout history, there have been many notable individuals named Joseph. One of the most famous is Joseph, the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus Christ, as mentioned in the New Testament. Another significant Joseph is Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy disciple of Jesus who provided his own tomb for Jesus' burial.
In the 4th century AD, Saint Joseph of Nazareth, the husband of Mary, became a prominent figure in Christianity and was venerated as a saint. During the Middle Ages, the name Joseph was popular among Christian communities across Europe.
Other notable figures named Joseph include Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), the celebrated Austrian composer; Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), the English chemist and philosopher; and Joseph Stalin (1878-1953), the leader of the Soviet Union during World War II.
People
Josph + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Josph 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
Josph: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Josph?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 230 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Josph 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 1,490,236 US residents.
Is Josph a common name?
We classify Josph as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 343 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Josph most popular?
The single biggest year for Josph was 1957, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Josph is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Josph in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 843 people with the name Josph, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,082 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 Josph 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 Josph?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Josph appears almost entirely male. Of the 843 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Josph?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Josph is White at 65.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.9%) and Black (13.5%). 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 Josph most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Josph in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.5% (552 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 Josph in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Josph a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Josph 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 Josph still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Josph 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 Josph 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 named Josph?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.