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Josephus

Boys' name

Form of Joseph

Josephus has been given to 1,211 babies in the U.S. since 1882. 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 1923, with 28 recorded.

Babies named Josephus, 2023

1 in 663,000

Josephus over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010203018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Josephus: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Joseph

English

What Josephus means

Josephus is a form of Joseph.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Josephus is used in Dutch and History.

Another recorded pronunciation is /joː.ˈseː.fʏs/, /ˈjoː.sə.fʏs/ and /d͡ʒoʊ.ˈsiː.fəs/ for Josephus.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Josephus → Joseph. The family’s meaning is “(God) shall add”, recorded in English with the source elements Yoséf.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Latin Iōsēphus, from Ancient Greek Ἰώσηπος (Iṓsēpos), Ἰωσήφ (Iōsḗph).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Josephus (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Josephus is used in English, Cebuano and Tagalog. Its origins include English.

Josephus comes through Latin Iōsēphus and Ancient Greek Ἰώσηπος.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Joseph.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Josephus is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒəʊˈsiːfəs/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,211 boys were recorded with the name Josephus between 1882 and 2023. Its highest annual count was 28 in 1923; its best national rank was #824 in 1897.

How common is Josephus?

Josephus had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2023, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2023
1 in 663,000
5 of 3,314,783 births
Among boys only
1 in 342,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2023
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
459,528 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Josephus 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 2023 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 459,528 children born in 2023 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Josephus. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Josephuss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Josephus was born before 1941 — so the typical Josephus is around 84 today.

Median birth year
1941
About 84 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
17.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
3.6%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
472
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 17.0% of all recorded uses (206).

Is Josephus 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 1923 (28)
Years since peak
102
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
25.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#824
1897

Spellings of Josephus

Josephus is not the most common spelling — Joseph is, with 100.0% against Josephus's 0.05%.

  • Joseph100.0%2,669,490
  • Josephus0.05%1,211

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Josephus is used

Across 1910–2025, Josephus was most concentrated in Georgia — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 125,471 across all states with data. It was least common in Alabama (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Georgia1 in 100,000
  2. 2North Carolina1 in 100,000
  3. 3South Carolina1 in 100,000
  4. 4Alabama1 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. Josephus has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Josephus around the world

Where Josephus 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.

  • South Australia
    1955–1955
    #392
    in 1955

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Josephus 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
#824
1897
Peak year
1923
28 that year
First recorded
1882
Last recorded
2023
All-time count
1,211
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Josephus

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

JoseangelJoshusJosemariaJosiyahJoseluisJosemanuelJoshueJoshuahJosafatJospehJoselitoJosaiahJostinJosmarJossueJossiahJosielJoshuanJosephineJosemiguelJosyahJoseyPinchusJosias

Sibling names for Josephus

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

Explore around Josephus

Top names of 1923, Josephus's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1897Boys' names starting with J