# Jose (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/jose/  
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 | Spanish |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | /hoʊˈzeɪ/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | José, Yoselyn |
| US babies named this | 596,732 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 592,512 / 4,220 (1% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 967, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Spanish/Portuguese José, from Hebrew. Doublet of Joseph.

## 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 19 | 6,765 |
| 2011 | 11 | 10,027 |
| 2012 | 13 | 8,864 |
| 2013 | 6 | 15,485 |
| 2014 | 10 | 10,512 |
| 2015 | 11 | 9,775 |
| 2016 | 11 | 9,722 |
| 2017 | 6 | 14,936 |
| 2018 | 9 | 10,959 |
| 2019 | 6 | 14,602 |
| 2020 | 10 | 9,867 |
| 2021 | 7 | 12,794 |
| 2022 | 8 | 11,679 |
| 2023 | 8 | 11,660 |
| 2024 | 6 | 14,266 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 6,766 | 65 |
| 2012 | 6,041 | 72 |
| 2013 | 5,627 | 76 |
| 2014 | 5,485 | 76 |
| 2015 | 5,177 | 80 |
| 2016 | 5,119 | 77 |
| 2017 | 4,815 | 81 |
| 2018 | 4,318 | 89 |
| 2019 | 4,135 | 92 |
| 2020 | 3,855 | 94 |
| 2021 | 4,002 | 89 |
| 2022 | 4,031 | 88 |
| 2023 | 3,725 | 93 |
| 2024 | 3,784 | 91 |
| 2025 | 3,678 | 95 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 3 | 3,824 |
| 2008 | 4 | 4,524 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 33 | 878 |
| 2012 | 34 | 885 |
| 2013 | 30 | 954 |
| 2014 | 33 | 889 |
| 2015 | 37 | 833 |
| 2016 | 35 | 884 |
| 2017 | 31 | 968 |
| 2018 | 35 | 870 |
| 2019 | 27 | 1,030 |
| 2020 | 27 | 1,019 |
| 2021 | 31 | 963 |
| 2022 | 37 | 844 |
| 2023 | 36 | 874 |
| 2024 | 23 | 1,199 |
| 2025 | 21 | 1,307 |

## People named Jose

- José Martí, Cuban poet, philosopher and nationalist (1853-1895)
- José de San Martín, Argentine general and independence leader (1778–1850)
- José Rizal, Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath (1861–1896)
- José Ramos-Horta, 2nd and 5th President of East Timor, Nobel Prize laureate
- Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte; King of Naples (1806–08) and Spain (1808–13)
- Joseph Estrada, actor and President of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001
- José Ferrer, American actor and director (1912–1992)
- José López Portillo, 58th President of Mexico
- José Altafini, Brazilian-Italian footballer
- José Figueres Ferrer, Costa Rican politician (1906–1990)
- Philip José Farmer, American writer (1918–2009)
- José de Alencar, Brazilian writer (1829–1877)

## 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.