Yusuf
An Arabic name meaning "he will add" or "God will increase".
Name Census estimates that about 10,606 living Americans carry the first name Yusuf. It sits at #475 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yusuf today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yusuf births was 2024 (645 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yusuf. 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
- • Yusuf is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 32,317 Americans
Peak year
2024
645 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#475
Tracked since 1949
Popularity
Yusuf: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yusuf from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 4,357 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Yusuf remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yusuf 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 Yusuf during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yusufs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Yusuf, while South Carolina, Nevada, New Hampshire recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 270 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Yusuf
The name Yusuf has its origins in the Arabic language. It is derived from the Hebrew name Yosef, which itself comes from the root word yasaf, meaning "to add" or "to increase". This root word is also related to the Hebrew word "lehosef", meaning "he will add".
The name Yusuf is mentioned in the Quran, the holy book of Islam, as the name of the biblical prophet Joseph. In the Quran, the story of Yusuf (Joseph) is told in great detail, recounting his trials and tribulations, as well as his eventual rise to power in Egypt. This association with the biblical figure has made the name Yusuf a popular choice among Muslims.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Yusuf dates back to the 7th century CE. Yusuf ibn Tashfin was the founder and first king of the Almoravid dynasty, which ruled over parts of North Africa and Andalusia (modern-day Spain and Portugal) from the late 11th to the mid-12th century.
Another notable figure in history who bore the name Yusuf was Yusuf ibn Ismail, also known as Salah ad-Din al-Ayyubi or Saladin. He was the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria and is best known for his military campaigns against the Crusaders in the 12th century. He was born in 1137 CE and died in 1193 CE.
In the 19th century, Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, was a British singer-songwriter and convert to Islam. He was born in 1948 and is known for his successful music career in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as his philanthropic work after embracing Islam.
Another famous Yusuf was Yusuf Idris, an Egyptian novelist and playwright who was a prominent figure in the modernist literary movement in the Arab world. He was born in 1927 and died in 1991, leaving behind a significant body of work that explored social issues and the human condition.
Yusuf Lule was a Ugandan politician and the first president of Uganda after the overthrow of Idi Amin in 1979. He served as president for a brief period of 68 days before being deposed in a military coup. He was born in 1912 and died in 1985.
People
Yusuf + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yusuf 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
Yusuf: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yusuf?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,606 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yusuf 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 32,317 US residents.
Is Yusuf a common name?
We classify Yusuf as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,755 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yusuf most popular?
The single biggest year for Yusuf was 2024, when 645 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yusuf is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Yusuf a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yusuf 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.