Yosef
- Pronunciation
- [Yo-sef]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- God Will Increase.
- Origin
- Hebrew
About the Name Yosef
Yosef is the Hebrew original of Joseph, from a root meaning "he will add" or "God will increase." In the Bible it belongs to the favored son of Jacob, whose dramatic story of betrayal, exile, and ultimate reconciliation is among the most beloved and richly told in all of scripture. Yosef preserves that ancient name in its authentic Hebrew form, carrying a profound sense of heritage, family, and faith.
The name's traditional resonance has made it a deeply meaningful choice in Jewish families and beyond, valued for its directness and its connection to one of the Bible's most enduring figures. The recorded variant Yusef reflects the closely related Arabic form of the same enduring name, and both spellings keep the warm, two-syllable sound of the Hebrew original intact and unmistakable.
As a boys' name in the United States, Yosef first entered the Social Security top-1000 in 2001 and reached its peak in 2024 at rank #611, its highest standing to date, with roughly 7,700 boys given the name across its top-1000 years. That recent high marks Yosef as a traditional name enjoying fresh momentum in the early 2020s. Authentic, warm, and deeply rooted, the name lets families honor an ancient heritage while choosing a form that feels distinctive and current, faithful to its origins yet fresh in modern use.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Yosef
US Popularity History (2001–2025)
Annual US births named Yosef by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2024 with 466 boys named Yosef (boy rank #611 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #665 for boys (413 US births). That's 54 places below its 2024 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Yosef Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Yosef the strongest states are New Jersey, New York, Maryland.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Jersey | #90 | 988 |
| 2 | New York | #116 | 1,561 |
| 3 | Maryland | #539 | 94 |
| 4 | Florida | #816 | 104 |
| 5 | Illinois | #878 | 50 |
| 6 | Pennsylvania | #1,059 | 22 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pennsylvania | #1,059 | 22 |
| 2 | Illinois | #878 | 50 |
| 3 | Florida | #816 | 104 |
| 4 | Maryland | #539 | 94 |
| 5 | New York | #116 | 1,561 |
| 6 | New Jersey | #90 | 988 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Yosef in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yusef | God Shall Multiply | Male | Hebrew |
Looking for names like Yosef?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Yosef to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Yosef against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).