Josy

Girls' name

(God) shall add, through Josephine

Josy has been given to 83 babies in the U.S. since 1981. 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 1994, with 7 recorded.

Babies named Josy, 2023

1 in 663,000

Josy over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Josy: meaning, origin, and history

(God) shall add, through Josephine

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Josy means

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

Origin, language, and formation

Josy is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Josephine and Joseph.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 83 girls were recorded with the name Josy between 1981 and 2023. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1994; its best national rank was #9,611 in 1981.

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 Josy?

Josy 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 girls only: 1 in 321,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2023: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 459,528 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Josy sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

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 Josy. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Josys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Josy was born before 2006 — so the typical Josy is around 19 today.

Median birth year: 2006; About 19 years old
Biggest decade: 2000s; 34.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 71.1%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 83; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2000s — 34.9% of all recorded uses (29).

Is Josy 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 1994 (7)
Years since peak: 31; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 18.9% average annual change
Best rank ever: #9,611; 1981

Spellings of Josy

Josy is not the most common spelling — Rose is, with 21.0% against Josy's <0.01%.

Rose21.0%500,586
Joan20.2%481,238
Judy16.0%382,979
Jo7.5%179,057
Rosa7.4%177,415
Joy5.9%140,694
Zoey4.8%115,332
Jodi3.3%79,695

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.

Josy around the world

Where Josy 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
2019–2019
#5,591
in 2019
France
1931–2005
#4,642
in 2005
Canada
1991–1991
#1,752
in 1991

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Josy by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #9,611; 1981
Peak year: 1994; 7 that year
First recorded: 1981
Last recorded: 2023
All-time count: 83
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Josy

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

Joss Posy Josanna Josi Josue Josely Josiane Josabet Josha Josiah Josina Jossy Josslin Joslyne Josett Josabeth Josanne Josilin Josmary Josclyn Josee Josalin Josiana Jossette

Sibling names for Josy

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

Breonna Austin Darian Rikki Khadijah Lucero Kaylene Salena

For a brother

Denton Trever Darion Darrius Mackenzie Daquan Dashawn Hernan

Explore around Josy

Top names of 1994, Josy's peak year The 1990s in full Other names that peaked in 1981 Girls' names starting with J