How Many People Are Named Josh?
An estimated 14,479 people in the United States have the first name Josh. It is almost exclusively a male name. The average bearer is 38 years old, and Josh peaked in popularity in 1979 with 531 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Josh 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 Josh paired with any surname.
Estimated Living Americans
14,479
About 1 in 23,673 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Male
100.0% confidence
Average Age
38
years old
Peak Year
1979
531 births
Total Registered
17,193
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Josh
Josh is almost exclusively a male name. Out of 17,193 total births registered, 100.0% were male.
Josh as a male name
Ranked #1,736 in 2024
95 male births in 2024
Peak: 1979 (531 births)
Josh: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Josh span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1970s, when 4,012 babies were registered. Josh has declined significantly from its peak in the 1970s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Josh by Decade
How has Josh 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.
Josh by State
Birth registrations for Josh span all 44 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in California, Texas, New York. The lowest are in Wyoming, Hawaii, West Virginia. On average, about 267 Joshs were registered per state.
Josh + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Josh as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Josh
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
Josh: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Josh?
We estimate approximately 14,479 people named Josh 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 23,673 Americans share this first name.
Is Josh a common name?
Josh is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 98.2% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 17,193 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Josh most popular?
Josh reached peak popularity in 1979, when 531 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Josh is approximately 38 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Josh a male name?
Josh is predominantly male. 100.0% of people with this name are male. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Josh Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Josh Smith, Josh Johnson, Josh 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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