Josu

Boys' name

From Spanish Iesus; literal meaning unconfirmed

Josu has been given to 6 babies in the U.S. since 2017. 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 2017, with 6 recorded.

Babies named Josu, 2017

1 in 596,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Josu: meaning, origin, and history

From Spanish Iesus; literal meaning unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Josu means

Josu is a modern given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Josu is used in Basque.

Josu comes through Spanish Iesus.

Josu is a modern formation.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 6 boys were recorded with the name Josu between 2017 and 2017. Its highest annual count was 6 in 2017; its best national rank was #11,436 in 2017.

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 Josu?

Josu had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2017, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2017: 1 in 596,000; 6 of 3,577,106 births
Among boys only: 1 in 308,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2017: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 413,245 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Josu 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 2017 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 413,245 children born in 2017 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Josu. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Josus were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Josu was born before 2017 — so the typical Josu is around 8 today.

Median birth year: 2017; About 8 years old
Biggest decade: 2010s; 100.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 6; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2010s — 100.0% of all recorded uses (6).

Is Josu 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 2017 (6)
Years since peak: 8; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #11,436; 2017

Spellings of Josu

Josu is not the most common spelling — John is, with 60.8% against Josu's <0.01%.

John60.8%5,182,633
Joshua14.7%1,248,929
Jose7.0%592,512
Joe5.3%453,255
Joel3.3%279,655
Jesus2.9%244,281
Jon2.0%168,142
Ross0.96%81,872

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.

Josu 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: #11,436; 2017
Peak year: 2017; 6 that year
First recorded: 2017
Last recorded: 2017
All-time count: 6
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Josu

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

Josa Josje Josea Josani Josse Josif Joset Joshir Josahn Josphe Joshep Josuhe Josmel Josaia Josuan Josaan Josael Joslin Josbel Josan Joscar Joshya Josejr Josheua

Sibling names for Josu

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

Raylee Aubrielle Harleigh Kinslee Aminah Spencer Adelia Emmeline

For a brother

Brecken Linus Arvin Titan Ramsey Kalvin Ishmael Nixon

Explore around Josu

Top names of 2017, Josu's peak year The 2010s in full Other names that peaked in 2017 Boys' names starting with J Basque Boy Names Basque Names