Meaning not yet researched.
Josef: US boys given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 44 in 2025. Its best rank was #663 in 1984.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #663 in 1984; #2,860 in 2025. Every baby recorded as Josef in 2025 was a boy.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#2,860 for US boys in 2025. Its best year was 1984, at #663.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for any year. Years with fewer than five babies of a sex are not published by SSA and show as zero.
Josef: US boys given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 44 boys in 2025. Peak: #663 in 1984 · most boys in one year: 220 (1999).
In 2025, 44 US boys were named Josef, making it the 2,860th most common boys’ name of the year, down 585 places from #2,275 in 2024. That is 19 fewer than the 63 boys named Josef in 2024. Its best rank for boys was #663, reached in 1984. The most boys given the name in a single year was 220, in 1999. For comparison, it was #1,710 in 2015 and #1,780 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Josef in 122 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1900 with 6 babies. In all, 9,158 US babies have been given the name, all of them boys. Its busiest decade was the 2000s, with 1,834 babies named Josef.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 703 US boys were named Josef; the busiest of those years was 2016, with 92. In 2025 that was about 1 in 38,820 of the boys in SSA’s list for the year.
Among the states, Josef ranked highest in New York in 2025, at #1,251 for boys there. It was not in the top 100 of any state. Related spellings in the SSA files include Joseph (2,680,213 babies since 1880), Jose (596,732 babies since 1880), Yosef (10,612 babies since 1880) and Giuseppe (6,365 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Jozsef and Joesef are summarised on this page.
Meaning not yet researched.
We publish a meaning only with a cited source and a confidence label, and never generate one. Meanings are being researched for the most common names first.
Rare spellings summarised here: Jozsef (141), Joesef (10).
Numbers are all-time US births. Links come from Wikidata’s “said to be the same as” (P460, CC0) and our spelling rule: at most two letters different, with the same sound pattern.
No nicknames listed for Josef in the open dataset we use.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
US boys. Rank within each state. SSA leaves out states where fewer than five boys got the name, so 49 are not listed.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank 2025 | Rank 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 9 | #1,251 | #845 |
| Texas | 6 | #2,414 | #1,593 |
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | — | — | 44 | #2,860 |
| 2024 | — | — | 63 | #2,275 |
| 2023 | — | — | 61 | #2,301 |
| 2022 | — | — | 59 | #2,393 |
| 2021 | — | — | 72 | #2,047 |
| 2020 | — | — | 66 | #2,123 |
| 2019 | — | — | 81 | #1,857 |
| 2018 | — | — | 84 | #1,814 |
| 2017 | — | — | 81 | #1,834 |
| 2016 | — | — | 92 | #1,701 |
| 2015 | — | — | 91 | #1,710 |
| 2014 | — | — | 113 | #1,450 |
| 2013 | — | — | 108 | #1,508 |
| 2012 | — | — | 95 | #1,632 |
| 2011 | — | — | 137 | #1,260 |
| 2010 | — | — | 129 | #1,327 |
| 2009 | — | — | 125 | #1,372 |
| 2008 | — | — | 158 | #1,151 |
| 2007 | — | — | 165 | #1,110 |
| 2006 | — | — | 191 | #974 |
| 2005 | — | — | 218 | #846 |
| 2004 | — | — | 185 | #920 |
| 2003 | — | — | 188 | #894 |
| 2002 | — | — | 195 | #852 |
| 2001 | — | — | 211 | #797 |
| 2000 | — | — | 198 | #814 |
| 1999 | — | — | 220 | #738 |
| 1998 | — | — | 211 | #758 |
| 1997 | — | — | 183 | #804 |
| 1996 | — | — | 175 | #823 |
| 1995 | — | — | 168 | #830 |
| 1994 | — | — | 179 | #791 |
| 1993 | — | — | 170 | #810 |
| 1992 | — | — | 163 | #827 |
| 1991 | — | — | 154 | #834 |
| 1990 | — | — | 166 | #789 |
| 1989 | — | — | 156 | #797 |
| 1988 | — | — | 177 | #706 |
| 1987 | — | — | 164 | #714 |
| 1986 | — | — | 159 | #719 |
| 1985 | — | — | 172 | #678 |
| 1984 | — | — | 170 | #663 |
| 1983 | — | — | 130 | #759 |
| 1982 | — | — | 149 | #713 |
| 1981 | — | — | 131 | #764 |
| 1980 | — | — | 151 | #708 |
| 1979 | — | — | 161 | #673 |
| 1978 | — | — | 123 | #763 |
| 1977 | — | — | 119 | #784 |
| 1976 | — | — | 96 | #852 |
| 1975 | — | — | 107 | #806 |
| 1974 | — | — | 80 | #908 |
| 1973 | — | — | 78 | #908 |
| 1972 | — | — | 80 | #897 |
| 1971 | — | — | 89 | #867 |
| 1970 | — | — | 93 | #838 |
| 1969 | — | — | 65 | #954 |
| 1968 | — | — | 72 | #858 |
| 1967 | — | — | 41 | #1,168 |
| 1966 | — | — | 53 | #1,000 |
| 1965 | — | — | 66 | #915 |
| 1964 | — | — | 58 | #995 |
| 1963 | — | — | 54 | #1,032 |
| 1962 | — | — | 41 | #1,222 |
| 1961 | — | — | 51 | #1,101 |
| 1960 | — | — | 53 | #1,063 |
| 1959 | — | — | 37 | #1,287 |
| 1958 | — | — | 45 | #1,151 |
| 1957 | — | — | 49 | #1,095 |
| 1956 | — | — | 41 | #1,197 |
| 1955 | — | — | 38 | #1,230 |
| 1954 | — | — | 32 | #1,348 |
| 1953 | — | — | 25 | #1,535 |
| 1952 | — | — | 29 | #1,421 |
| 1951 | — | — | 21 | #1,663 |
| 1950 | — | — | 18 | #1,780 |
| 1949 | — | — | 23 | #1,565 |
| 1948 | — | — | 19 | #1,737 |
| 1947 | — | — | 21 | #1,677 |
| 1946 | — | — | 11 | #2,339 |
| 1945 | — | — | 20 | #1,512 |
| 1944 | — | — | 13 | #2,038 |
| 1943 | — | — | 19 | #1,669 |
| 1942 | — | — | 21 | #1,562 |
| 1941 | — | — | 11 | #2,266 |
| 1940 | — | — | 14 | #1,941 |
| 1939 | — | — | 13 | #2,008 |
| 1938 | — | — | 20 | #1,543 |
| 1937 | — | — | 12 | #2,140 |
| 1936 | — | — | 15 | #1,843 |
| 1935 | — | — | 14 | #1,985 |
| 1934 | — | — | 16 | #1,816 |
| 1933 | — | — | 9 | #2,638 |
| 1932 | — | — | 9 | #2,739 |
| 1931 | — | — | 13 | #2,158 |
| 1930 | — | — | 14 | #2,129 |
| 1929 | — | — | 15 | #2,053 |
| 1928 | — | — | 21 | #1,674 |
| 1927 | — | — | 16 | #2,083 |
| 1926 | — | — | 20 | #1,759 |
| 1925 | — | — | 19 | #1,840 |
| 1924 | — | — | 21 | #1,750 |
| 1923 | — | — | 12 | #2,527 |
| 1922 | — | — | 14 | #2,293 |
| 1921 | — | — | 7 | #3,703 |
| 1920 | — | — | 17 | #2,004 |
| 1919 | — | — | 24 | #1,509 |
| 1918 | — | — | 14 | #2,219 |
| 1917 | — | — | 22 | #1,561 |
| 1916 | — | — | 28 | #1,288 |
| 1915 | — | — | 24 | #1,390 |
| 1914 | — | — | 13 | #1,824 |
| 1913 | — | — | 18 | #1,229 |
| 1912 | — | — | 12 | #1,479 |
| 1911 | — | — | 8 | #1,338 |
| 1910 | — | — | 10 | #1,083 |
| 1909 | — | — | 11 | #925 |
| 1908 | — | — | 5 | #1,504 |
| 1907 | — | — | 7 | #1,147 |
| 1906 | — | — | 7 | #1,062 |
| 1901 | — | — | 7 | #900 |
| 1900 | — | — | 6 | #1,240 |
About the data: counts are Social Security card applications for US births, for names given to at least five babies of a sex in a year (SSA, names.zip, public domain). Ranks follow SSA’s own order: most births first, ties alphabetical. Files retrieved 2026-10-05 (checksum on our sources page).