Yusif
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "God increases".
Name Census estimates that about 394 living Americans carry the first name Yusif. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yusif today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yusif births was 2016 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yusif. 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
394
~ 1 in 869,935 Americans
Peak year
2016
27 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,040
Tracked since 1992
Popularity
Yusif: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yusif from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 196 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Yusif remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yusif 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 Yusif during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yusifs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Yusif
The name Yusif is the Arabic version of the name Joseph, derived from the Hebrew name Yosef. It is a name with deep roots in the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
The name Yosef originated in ancient Hebrew and is mentioned numerous times in the Hebrew Bible, most notably as the name of the son of Jacob who was sold into slavery by his brothers and later became a powerful vizier in Egypt. The story of Joseph is recounted in great detail in the Book of Genesis.
In the Islamic tradition, Yusif is the name given to the prophet Joseph, who is revered as a wise and pious figure. His story is told in the Quran, particularly in Surah Yusuf (Chapter 12), where he is portrayed as a virtuous man who resisted temptation and interpreted dreams.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Yusif can be found in the Quranic text itself, dating back to the 7th century CE. Throughout Islamic history, the name has been borne by numerous scholars, rulers, and other prominent figures.
A notable historical figure named Yusif was Yusif ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri, an 8th-century Moroccan scholar and architect who is credited with founding the University of Al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, Morocco, one of the oldest continuously operating universities in the world.
Another famous bearer of the name was Yusif ibn Yahya al-Barmaki, a 9th-century Persian vizier and member of the influential Barmakid family, who served under the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid. He was renowned for his wisdom and patronage of the arts and sciences.
In the 12th century, Yusif ibn Ayyub, better known as Saladin, was a Kurdish Muslim sultan and military leader who founded the Ayyubid dynasty and recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187.
During the 14th century, Yusif I reigned as the Sultan of Granada, the last Muslim ruler of Spain before the completion of the Reconquista by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492.
Yusif Balasaguni, a renowned 11th-century Turkic poet and philosopher from the Karakhanid Empire, is best known for his influential work Kutadgu Bilig, a mirror for princes written in the Turkic language.
People
Yusif + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yusif 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
Yusif: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yusif?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 394 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yusif 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 869,935 US residents.
Is Yusif a common name?
We classify Yusif as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 398 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yusif most popular?
The single biggest year for Yusif was 2016, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yusif is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Yusif a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yusif 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.