# Josef (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/josef/  
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 | not recorded |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 9,158 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 9,158 / 0 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 1,393, 1996 to 2025 |

## 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, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 137 | 1,260 |
| 2012 | 95 | 1,632 |
| 2013 | 108 | 1,508 |
| 2014 | 113 | 1,450 |
| 2015 | 91 | 1,710 |
| 2016 | 92 | 1,701 |
| 2017 | 81 | 1,834 |
| 2018 | 84 | 1,814 |
| 2019 | 81 | 1,857 |
| 2020 | 66 | 2,123 |
| 2021 | 72 | 2,047 |
| 2022 | 59 | 2,393 |
| 2023 | 61 | 2,301 |
| 2024 | 63 | 2,275 |
| 2025 | 44 | 2,860 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 34 | 852 |
| 2012 | 35 | 866 |
| 2013 | 32 | 910 |
| 2014 | 20 | 1,281 |
| 2015 | 23 | 1,159 |
| 2016 | 33 | 914 |
| 2017 | 19 | 1,339 |
| 2018 | 30 | 958 |
| 2019 | 13 | 1,745 |
| 2020 | 13 | 1,723 |
| 2021 | 15 | 1,595 |
| 2022 | 15 | 1,609 |
| 2023 | 8 | 2,546 |
| 2024 | 9 | 2,443 |
| 2025 | 14 | 1,798 |

## People named Josef

- Josef Stefan, Carinthian Slovene physicist, mathematician and poet (1835-1893)
- Josef Čapek, Czech painter and writer (1887–1945)
- Josef Albers, German-American designer, painter, educator and typographer (1888–1976)
- Josef Masopust, Czech footballer (1931-2015)
- Josef von Sternberg, Austrian-American film director (1894-1969)
- Josef Bican, Austrian-Czech footballer (1913–2001)
- Josef Dobrovský, Czech historian, lexicographer, linguist, literature historian, religion writer, science w
- Josef Hoffmann, Austrian architect and product designer (1870-1956)
- Johann Josef Loschmidt, Austrian chemist and physicist (1821–1895)
- Josef Suk, Czech composer and violinist (1874-1935)
- Josef Breuer, Austrian physician (1842-1925)
- Josef Škvorecký, Czech-Canadian writer and publisher (1924-2012)

## 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.