Joseph
Joseph is ranked 32nd among boys in 2024 (7,223 births). Its best rank was 5th, in 1912–1917.
- Rank in 2024
- #32down 3 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 7,2230.42% of boys
- Peak year
- 195632,748 births
- Best rank
- #5first in 1912
- Since 1880
- 2,672,746people given the name
The story in the numbers
2,662,040 boys have been named Joseph in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1956, with 32,748 births — 1.5% of all boys recorded that year.
It is holding steady: its share of births has moved by less than half in either direction over ten years (rank 20 → 32).
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1963, and the 1950s alone account for 11%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 145 of them in the top 100 and 70 in the top 10.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 10,706 girls have also been given it, 0.40% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Joseph | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 26,292 | |
| 1890s | 29,000 | |
| 1900s | 35,173 | |
| 1910s | 179,300 | |
| 1920s | 243,809 | |
| 1930s | 180,565 | |
| 1940s | 230,281 | |
| 1950s | 300,006 | |
| 1960s | 283,046 | |
| 1970s | 244,838 | |
| 1980s | 299,416 | |
| 1990s | 260,738 | |
| 2000s | 194,937 | |
| 2010s | 115,686 | |
| 2020s | 38,953 |
In 1956, its biggest year
Joseph was the 12th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1956 were Michael, James, Robert, David and John. See all of 1956.
Names that rose and fell with Joseph
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Nelsonpeak 1959
- Mauricepeak 1921
- Marshallpeak 1947
- Martinpeak 1963
- Edwinpeak 1922
- Cliftonpeak 1975
- Ulyssespeak 1999
- Theronpeak 1966
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.