How Many People Are Named Josef?
An estimated 8,178 people in the United States have the first name Josef. It is almost exclusively a male name. The average bearer is 34 years old, and Josef peaked in popularity in 1999 with 220 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Josef as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Josef paired with any surname.
Estimated Living Americans
8,178
About 1 in 41,912 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Rare
Predicted Gender
Male
100.0% confidence
Average Age
34
years old
Peak Year
1999
220 births
Total Registered
9,112
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Josef
Josef is almost exclusively a male name. Out of 9,112 total births registered, 100.0% were male.
Josef as a male name
Ranked #2,286 in 2024
62 male births in 2024
Peak: 1999 (220 births)
Josef: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Josef span from the 1900s to the 2020s, covering 13 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 2000s, when 1,833 babies were registered. Josef has declined significantly from its peak in the 2000s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Josef by Decade
How has Josef tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Josef by State
Birth registrations for Josef span all 31 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in California, New York, Texas. The lowest are in South Carolina, Alabama, Oklahoma. On average, about 166 Josefs were registered per state.
Josef + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Josef as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Josef
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
Josef: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Josef?
We estimate approximately 8,178 people named Josef are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 41,912 Americans share this first name.
Is Josef a common name?
Josef is classified as "Rare" and is more popular than 97.4% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 9,112 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Josef most popular?
Josef reached peak popularity in 1999, when 220 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Josef is approximately 34 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Josef a male name?
Josef is predominantly male. 100.0% of people with this name are male. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Josef Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Josef Smith, Josef Johnson, Josef Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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