Josue
Hebrew name meaning "God is salvation" or "Yahweh is salvation".
Name Census estimates that about 55,735 living Americans carry the first name Josue. It sits at #294 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Josue today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Josue births was 2007 (2,272 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Josue. 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 Josue with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Josue is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 185 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
56K
~ 1 in 6,150 Americans
Peak year
2007
2,272 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#294
Tracked since 1924
Census
Josue in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 60,568 people with the first name Josue, which placed it at #802 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
#802
National first-name rank
People counted
61K
60,568 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
20.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
94.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Josue
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Josue is Hispanic at 94.7%. The next largest groups are Black (2.5%) and White (2.2%). 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 Josue 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 Josue at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino94.7% · 57,376
- Black or African American2.5% · 1,514
- White2.2% · 1,311
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 212
- Two or more races0.2% · 92
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 63
Gender
Gender distribution for Josue
Out of the 56,837 babies given the name Josue since 1880, 99.7% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Josue as a male name
- Ranked #294 in 2024
- 1,140 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (2,272 births)
Josue as a female name
- Ranked #12,707 in 2011
- 8 female births in 2011
- Peak: 1984 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Josue appears almost entirely male. Of the 60,561 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Josue: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Josue from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 18,363 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Josue remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Josue 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 Josue during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Josues live
The SSA's state-level files cover 42 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Josue, while South Dakota, Delaware, Idaho recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,313 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Josue
The name Josue is derived from the Hebrew name Yehoshua, which means "Yahweh is salvation" or "God is deliverance". It is a biblical name that can be traced back to the Old Testament. The name Yehoshua was anglicized as Joshua, and Josue is a variant spelling popularized by the Romance languages.
One of the most notable historical figures bearing this name was Josue, also known as Joshua, the successor of Moses and the leader who led the Israelites into the Promised Land of Canaan after their exodus from Egypt. The Book of Joshua in the Hebrew Bible details his life and military campaigns.
In the Middle Ages, the name Josue was relatively uncommon, but it gained popularity during the Renaissance period when interest in classical and biblical names resurfaced. One notable bearer of this name was Josué Calmet (1672-1757), a French Benedictine monk and biblical scholar known for his scholarly works on the Old Testament.
During the colonial era in Latin America, Josue became a widely used name among Spanish and Portuguese settlers. One famous figure from this period was Josué Navarro (1564-1622), a Spanish conquistador and explorer who played a significant role in the colonization of Puerto Rico.
In the 19th century, the name Josue was popular among literary figures. Josué Carducci (1835-1907) was an Italian poet and scholar who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1906 for his contribution to the renewal of Italian poetry.
Another notable figure was Josué Cámara Leret (1870-1923), a Spanish painter known for his landscapes and portraits, and a prominent member of the Valencia School of Painting.
While the name Josue has its roots in the Hebrew language and biblical history, it has been embraced by various cultures and languages over the centuries, with many notable individuals bearing this name and contributing to various fields throughout history.
People
Josue + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Josue 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
Josue: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Josue?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 55,735 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Josue 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 6,150 US residents.
Is Josue a common name?
We classify Josue as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 56,837 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Josue most popular?
The single biggest year for Josue was 2007, when 2,272 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Josue is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Josue in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 60,568 people with the name Josue, or 20.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #802 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 Josue 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 Josue?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Josue appears almost entirely male. Of the 60,561 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Josue?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Josue is Hispanic at 94.7%. The next largest groups are Black (2.5%) and White (2.2%). 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 Josue most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Josue in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.7% (57,376 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 Josue in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Josue a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Josue 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 Josue still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Josue 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 Josue 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 Americans are named Josue?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.