How Many People Are Named Josephine?
An estimated 107,641 people in the United States have the first name Josephine. While not in the top 50, it remains a well-known name ranking #493 overall. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 39 years old, and Josephine peaked in popularity in 1918 with 8,709 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Josephine 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 Josephine paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Josephine is overwhelmingly female, 991 male births have been registered with this name since 1880.
Estimated Living Americans
107,641
About 1 in 3,184 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Common
Predicted Gender
Female
99.7% confidence
Average Age
39
years old
Peak Year
1918
8,709 births
Total Registered
328,296
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Josephine
Josephine is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 328,296 total births registered, 99.7% were female.
Josephine as a male name
Ranked #13,124 in 2023
5 male births in 2023
Peak: 1932 (37 births)
Josephine as a female name
Ranked #56 in 2024
3,746 female births in 2024
Peak: 1918 (8,682 births)
Josephine: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Josephine span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1920s, when 69,444 babies were registered. Josephine has declined significantly from its peak in the 1920s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Josephine by Decade
How has Josephine 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.
| Decade | Total | Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 7,749 | 17 | 7,732 | |
| 1890s | 12,500 | 37 | 12,463 | |
| 1900s | 18,860 | 75 | 18,785 | |
| 1910s | 61,513 | 158 | 61,355 | |
| 1920s | 69,444 | 221 | 69,223 | |
| 1930s | 36,318 | 267 | 36,051 | |
| 1940s | 24,424 | 100 | 24,324 | |
| 1950s | 16,462 | 50 | 16,412 | |
| 1960s | 9,358 | 41 | 9,317 | |
| 1970s | 5,160 | 6 | 5,154 | |
| 1980s | 4,745 | 14 | 4,731 | |
| 1990s | 7,059 | 0 | 7,059 | |
| 2000s | 13,922 | 0 | 13,922 | |
| 2010s | 23,956 | 0 | 23,956 | |
| 2020s | 16,826 | 5 | 16,821 | |
Josephine by State
Birth registrations for Josephine span all 51 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in New York, Pennsylvania, California. The lowest are in Alaska, Wyoming, Vermont. On average, about 5,602 Josephines were registered per state.
Josephine + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Josephine as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Josephine
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
Josephine: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Josephine?
We estimate approximately 107,641 people named Josephine 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 3,184 Americans share this first name.
Is Josephine a common name?
Josephine is classified as "Common" and is more popular than 99.5% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 328,296 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Josephine most popular?
Josephine reached peak popularity in 1918, when 8,709 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Josephine is approximately 39 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Josephine a female name?
Josephine is predominantly female. 99.7% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Josephine Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Josephine Smith, Josephine Johnson, Josephine 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.
Search for a full name combination
How Many of Me