Jos

Boys' name

(God) shall add, through Joseph

Jos has been given to 96 babies in the U.S. since 1915. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 2007, with 9 recorded.

Babies named Jos, 2021

1 in 565,000

Jos over time, 1880–2025

Boys

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Jos: meaning, origin, and history

(God) shall add, through Joseph

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Jos means

Jos belongs to the name family reached through Jos → Joseph. Its meaning is “(God) shall add”.

Origin, language, and formation

Jos is used in English and Dutch.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Joseph and Jozef.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Dutch, Jos is pronounced /jɔs/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 96 boys were recorded with the name Jos between 1915 and 2021. Its highest annual count was 9 in 2007; its best national rank was #2,950 in 1915.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Jos?

Jos had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2021, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2021: 1 in 565,000; 6 of 3,389,958 births
Among boys only: 1 in 292,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2021: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 391,624 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Jos sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2021 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 391,624 children born in 2021 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Jos. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Joss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Jos was born before 2008 — so the typical Jos is around 17 today.

Median birth year: 2008; About 17 years old
Biggest decade: 2010s; 37.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 75.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 83; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2010s — 37.5% of all recorded uses (36).

Is Jos rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 2007 (9)
Years since peak: 18; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 34.6% average annual change
Best rank ever: #2,950; 1915

Where Jos is used

Across 1910–2025, Jos was most concentrated in South Carolina — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 416,913 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1South Carolina1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Jos has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Jos around the world

Where Jos ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

England & Wales
1997–2025
#1,705
in 2025
France
1998–2021
#6,251
in 2021
South Australia
1980–2007
#680
in 2007

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Jos by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #2,950; 1915
Peak year: 2007; 9 that year
First recorded: 1915
Last recorded: 2021
All-time count: 96
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Jos

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Josai Joss Josuel Joshu Josohn Josip Joson Josel Josiahs Joseth Jossiel Joseh Josia Josep Josie Josean Joshoa Josede Josael Joseff Josian Josen Joses Josey

Sibling names for Jos

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Kalli Neveah Marlen Lupita Rhianna Marin Yuliana Keeley

For a brother

Nikhil Slade Brandt Nevin Ean Davian Isai Aryan

Explore around Jos

Top names of 2007, Jos's peak year The 2000s in full Other names that peaked in 1915 Boys' names starting with J Uncommon Dutch Boy Names