Joseph
Featured in baby name books
Joseph is a Hebrew name meaning “God will add” or “God will increase.” In the Bible, Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son, sold into slavery in Egypt, and another Joseph was the carpenter husband of Mary. Joseph has stayed in New York’s top ten for close to a century, a longer run there than any other name has had. A badass namesake is French general Joseph Gallieni, who came out of retirement to defend Paris from the Germans with an army moved by taxicabs.
Sources: 10,000 Baby Names, Baby Names Book, Baby Names (Laura Emerson), Baby Names Made Easy, Baby Names Your Child Can Live With, The Best Baby Names for Boys, Classic Biblical Baby Names, The Everything Baby Names Book, Numerology for Baby Names, 1,107 Baby Names That Stand the Test of Time, Badass Baby Names
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Usage of Joseph in different languages / cultures
The list below was created by gathering names from various sources for different languages, and then matching Joseph against each list of names.
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Albanian
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Arabic
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Armenian
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Bengali
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Bulgarian
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Catalan
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Chinese
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Cornish
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Croatian
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Czech
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Danish
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Dothraki
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Dutch
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English
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Estonian
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Filipino
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Finnish
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French
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Georgian
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German
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Greek
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Hawaiian
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Hebrew
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Hindi
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Hungarian
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Icelandic
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Indonesian
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Irish
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Italian
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Japanese
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Khmer
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Klingon
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Korean
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Latin
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Latvian
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Lithuanian
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Macedonian
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Norwegian
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Persian
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Polish
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Portuguese
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Romanian
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Russian
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Scottish
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Serbian
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Slovak
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Slovenian
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Spanish
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Swahili
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Swedish
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Telugu
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Thai
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Turkish
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Ukrainian
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Vietnamese
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Welsh
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Yiddish
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Yoruba
Note: In some cases it is possible for the check mark to be missing even if Joseph is used in a particular country, as almost no source name list has 100% coverage.
Joseph in official name statistics
United States
In 2025, 7,303 boys were named Joseph, making it the #29 boys' name in the US. Since 1880, 2,669,490 boys have been named Joseph, with the most (32,749) in 1956. It is most common, relative to births, in New Jersey, Connecticut and Alaska.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880–2025. Names given to fewer than 5 babies in a year are not listed.
Other countries
Counts are babies born that year, or living people for "all ages" rows, as published by each country's statistics office or population register.
Joseph in other languages
- José Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish
- Jozef Czech, Dutch, Slovak
- Josef Czech, Dutch
- Jožef Czech, Slovenian
- Giuseppe Italian
- Iosephus Latin
- Iosif Romanian
- Joe English
- Joep Dutch
- Jooseppi Finnish
- Jose English
- Josep Catalan
- Josip Slovenian
- Jože Slovenian
- Juozapas Lithuanian
- Juozas Lithuanian
- Jósep Icelandic
- Józef Polish
- József Hungarian
- Seosamh Irish
- Yosef Hebrew
- Иосиф Russian
Joseph name days
- March 19 France
Source: Wikidata (CC0).
Towns named Joseph
There are 140 towns and villages with Joseph in their name, in 26 countries.
🇺🇸 United States 34🇨🇦 Canada 26🇫🇷 France 14🇭🇹 Haiti 13🇿🇲 Zambia 11🇱🇷 Liberia 7🇲🇼 Malawi 6🇳🇨 New Caledonia 5
| Name | Where | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saint Joseph | Missouri, 🇺🇸 United States | 76,780 | Map |
| Saint-Joseph | 🇷🇪 Reunion | 38,807 | Map |
| Saint-Joseph | 🇲🇶 Martinique | 16,974 | Map |
| Saint Joseph | Michigan, 🇺🇸 United States | 8,365 | Map |
| Saint Joseph | Minnesota, 🇺🇸 United States | 6,534 | Map |
| Saint Joseph | Illinois, 🇺🇸 United States | 3,967 | Map |
| Saint-Joseph | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | 2,576 | Map |
| Saint Joseph | Saint Joseph Parish, 🇩🇲 Dominica | 2,184 | Map |
| Saint-Joseph | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, 🇫🇷 France | 1,772 | Map |
| Joseph City | Arizona, 🇺🇸 United States | 1,386 | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Lakes named Joseph
There are 61 lakes and reservoirs with Joseph in their name, in 2 countries.
🇨🇦 Canada 49🇺🇸 United States 12
| Name | Where | |
|---|---|---|
| Joseph Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Joseph Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Joseph Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Joseph Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Joseph Lake | Manitoba, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Joseph Lake | Saskatchewan, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Joseph Lake | Alberta, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Joseph Lake | Alberta, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Joseph Lake | British Columbia, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Joseph Lake | British Columbia, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Joseph songs
29 songs and musical works on Wikidata have Joseph in their title. The best known:
- Joseph and his Brethren – George Frideric Handel
- Joseph, Better You than Me – Neil Tennant (2008)
- Kaiser-Franz-Joseph-I.-Rettungs-Jubel-Marsch – Johann Strauss II
- Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II – Ludwig van Beethoven
- Kaiser Franz Joseph-Marsch – Johann Strauss II
- Hommage à Joseph Haydn – Reynaldo Hahn (1910)
- Joseph, lieber Joseph mein
- Cantate to Joseph Haydn’s 73rd birthday – Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart
- Joseph Joseph – Nellie Casman (1938)
- Joseph Mega-Remix – Jason Donovan (1991)
Song data: Wikidata (CC0), ordered by how widely each song is covered on Wikipedia.
Celebrities named Joseph
Based on celebrities listed on Wikipedia, filtered to only those with the first name Joseph.
Joseph A. Farinholt
Joseph Abraham
Joseph Arthur
Joseph Barbera
See more...
Fictional characters named Joseph
Characters from films and TV series, from Wikidata, ordered by how widely they are covered on Wikipedia.
Character data: Wikidata (CC0). Images: Wikimedia Commons; click an image for its author and licence.
Joseph as a pet name
FurryName has found 48 dogs named Joseph in public pet registers, making it the #2,717 dog name there. Most of them are registered in Cambridge (2), Burnside (1), Zurich (1). Joseph as a dog name →
Joseph products
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Joseph pillow
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