Joseph - Origin and Meaning of the name

[ 2 syll. jo-sep(h), jos-e-ph ] The boy name Joseph is pronounced as JHOWSahF or JHOWZahF ^KEY. Joseph is used predominantly in the English, French, and German languages, and its origin is Hebrew. The name's meaning is Yahweh will add (another son). Biblical name derived from the element 'yacaph' meaning to add, to increase. The name was borne by the 11th son of Jacob in the Old Testament of the Bible, after whom one of the twelve tribes of Israel was named; he was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers whom he finally forgave and was reconciled with. The name was also borne by the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus in the New Testament, as well as a rich Jew named Joseph of Arimathea, who retrieved Jesus' body from the Cross and buried it in a tomb made of stones. The name was commonly used by English speakers in the Middle Ages, and it became more widespread after the Reformation. The name Josephine (English) is the female version of Joseph.

Joseph is a widely used name; it has 99 variants that are used in both English and other languages. Variants of Joseph used in English include Jessup, Jodi, Jodie, Joesph, Jojo, Jospeh, and Pepin (used in Spanish too). Other English forms include the short forms Jo (used in Japanese too) and Joe (used in French too), the pet forms Jody and Joey, and the variant spelling Josephe (used in French too).

Foreign variants of Joseph include Beppe (Italian), Beppi (German), Beppo (Italian), Che (Spanish), Cheche (Spanish), Chepe (Spanish), Chepito (Spanish), Giuseppe (Italian), Giuseppino (Italian), Giussepe (Italian), Guiseppe (Italian), Iokepa (Hawaiian), Iosef (German), Iosep (Irish), Ioseph (Irish and Russian), Iosif (Greek, Romanian, Russian, and Slavic), Jazeps (Latvian), Jobo (Spanish), Joop (Dutch), Joos (Dutch), Joosef (Finnish), Jooseppi (Finnish), Joscha (German and Hungarian), Joschka (German), Jose (Portuguese), Josecito (Spanish), Josef (Czech, German, Hebrew, Polish, Portuguese, Scandinavian, and Yiddish), Josefa (Czech, Portuguese, Scandinavian, and Spanish), Joseito (Spanish), Joselito (Spanish), Josep (Slavic), Josephus (Latinized), José (Portuguese and Spanish), Josif (Slavic), Josip (Slavic), Joska (Hungarian), Joszef (Hungarian), Joza (Czech), Joze (Slavic), Jozef (Czech, Dutch, and Slavic), Jozhe (Slavic), Jozhef (Slavic), Jozio (Polish), Jozka (Czech), Jozsef (Hungarian), Jozsi (Hungarian), Józef (Polish), József (Hungarian), Jupp (German), Jusuf (Arabic), Juzef (Polish), Juziu (Polish), Osip (Russian and Ukrainian), Osya (Russian), Pepa (Czech), Pepe (Spanish), Pepik (Czech), Pepillo (Spanish), Peppi (German), Peppino (Italian), Peppone (Italian), Pino (Italian), Pipo (Spanish), Seosamh (Irish), Seosap (Irish), Seosaph (Irish), Sepp (German), Susai (Tamil), Yazid (Arabic), Yeska (Russian), Yesya (Russian), Yosef (Hebrew), Yosi (Hebrew), Yosif (Slavic), Yousef (Arabic and Yiddish), Youssef (Arabic), Yousuf (Arabic), Yusef (Arabic), Yusif (Russian), Yusuf (Arabic and Swahili), Yusup (Russian), Yuzef (Russian), and Zeusef (Portuguese). Specific foreign variants include the pet forms Jochjo (Esperanto), Pepi (Spanish), Pepito (Spanish), and Seppi (German).

Joseph is a classic favorite. Today it is still very popular as a baby name for boys, though not to the extent it was previously. At the height of its usage in 1914, 2.755% of baby boys were given the name Joseph. It ranked at #5 then. The baby name has since experienced a fall in popularity, and is currently of moderate use. In 2008, its usage was 0.757% and its ranking #13, but it was nonetheless the most popular within all boy names in its group. In 2008, 68% more boys were named Joseph than the next most popular name, Jose (Portuguese). Joseph has mostly been a boy name, though in the past century it has also been used for girls. In 1988, the name Joseph was given to 153 times as many boys than girls.

Baby names that sound like Joseph include Josef (Czech, German, Hebrew, Polish, Portuguese, Scandinavian, and Yiddish), Josephe (English and French), Jozef (Czech, Dutch, and Slavic), Józef (Polish), Jacob (Dutch, English, German, and Scandinavian), Jakab (Hungarian), Jakeb (English), Jakiv (Russian), Jakob (English, German, and Scandinavian), Jakov (Hungarian, Russian, and Slavic), Jeffy (English), Jephthah (English and German), Jessup (English), Joab (English), Joba (Lapp), Jobo (Spanish), Joosef (Finnish), Josep (Slavic), Josif (Slavic), and Josip (Slavic).

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