Yosiyah
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "Jehovah is salvation".
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Yosiyah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yosiyah today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yosiyah births was 2018 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yosiyah. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Yosiyah. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
2018
5 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2021 SSA rank
#14,017
Tracked since 2018
Popularity
Yosiyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yosiyah from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, 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
Yosiyah 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 Yosiyah 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 Yosiyah
The name Yosiyah originates from Hebrew and is a variant spelling of the biblical name Josiah. It comes from the Hebrew words "Yah yoshia," meaning "Yahweh is deliverance" or "Yahweh has healed."
This name has deep roots in the Old Testament, appearing as the name of several figures, most notably King Josiah of Judah, who reigned from 640 to 609 BC. He was a pious ruler known for his religious reforms and for restoring the Temple in Jerusalem after rediscovering the Book of the Law.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Yosiyah dates back to the 6th century BC, found in ancient Hebrew inscriptions. Throughout history, variations like Yoshiyahu, Yeshayahu, and Yeshua were also used in different regions and time periods.
In the Middle Ages, the name Yosiyah was adopted by various Jewish communities across Europe and the Middle East. Notable figures include Yosiyah ben Joseph, a 12th-century Talmudic scholar from Andalusia, and Yosiyah ben Yaakov, a 13th-century rabbi and philosopher from Germany.
During the Renaissance, the name Yosiyah gained popularity among Christian communities, particularly in England, where it was sometimes anglicized as Josiah. One prominent example is Josiah Wedgwood, the 18th-century English potter and entrepreneur who founded the Wedgwood company (1730-1795).
Other notable individuals with the name Yosiyah include Yosiyah Pinto, a 17th-century rabbi and kabbalist in Amsterdam; Yosiyah Rofe, a 19th-century Hebrew writer and educator in Palestine; and Yosiyah Shulman, a 20th-century Israeli scholar and translator (1922-2005).
The name Yosiyah has also been used by various African communities, particularly in Ethiopia, where it is sometimes spelled Yosiyas or Yosyas. One notable figure is Yosiyas Kasa, an 18th-century Ethiopian nobleman and military leader.
People
Yosiyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yosiyah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Y
Other first names starting with Y with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Yosiyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yosiyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yosiyah 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 Yosiyah a common name?
We classify Yosiyah 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 Yosiyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Yosiyah was 2018, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yosiyah is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Yosiyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yosiyah a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yosiyah 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 Yosiyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yosiyah 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 Yosiyah 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people share the name Yosiyah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.