# Hosea (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/hosea/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | Hebrew |
| Meaning | “hosea”, “to save” |
| Pronunciation | /ˌhoʊˈziːə/, 3 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 5,501 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 5,481 / 20 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 104, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Latin Hōsēās, from Ancient Greek Ὡσηέ (Hōsēé), from Biblical Hebrew הוֹשֵׁעַ (hōšḗaʿ, “Hosea”), from the masculine singular imperative of הוֹשִׁיעַ (hoshía', “to save”).

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1914 | 5 | 3,875 |
| 1921 | 5 | 5,457 |
| 1927 | 5 | 5,144 |
| 1931 | 5 | 4,617 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 40 | 2,922 |
| 2012 | 62 | 2,165 |
| 2013 | 45 | 2,637 |
| 2014 | 64 | 2,141 |
| 2015 | 68 | 2,074 |
| 2016 | 56 | 2,349 |
| 2017 | 56 | 2,330 |
| 2018 | 61 | 2,245 |
| 2019 | 44 | 2,824 |
| 2020 | 61 | 2,247 |
| 2021 | 49 | 2,635 |
| 2022 | 65 | 2,225 |
| 2023 | 56 | 2,423 |
| 2024 | 60 | 2,354 |
| 2025 | 67 | 2,154 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 5 | 3,300 |
| 2012 | 7 | 2,721 |
| 2013 | 4 | 3,822 |
| 2014 | 5 | 3,362 |
| 2015 | 3 | 4,747 |
| 2016 | 11 | 2,027 |
| 2017 | 4 | 3,996 |
| 2018 | 4 | 3,959 |
| 2019 | 7 | 2,728 |
| 2020 | 5 | 3,334 |
| 2021 | 6 | 3,017 |
| 2022 | 8 | 2,529 |
| 2023 | 8 | 2,546 |
| 2024 | 10 | 2,263 |
| 2025 | 11 | 2,133 |

## People named Hosea

- Hosea Ballou, American Universalist minister (1771–1852)
- Ralph Chaplin, American writer, artist and labor activist

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.