Humanverse

Joenathan vs Joesph

American parents have registered 15,662 Joesphs since 1880, against 312 Joenathans. Joesph is still ahead, with 11 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Joenathan against Joesph, 1880 to 2025 0 80 160 240 320 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Joenathan Joesph

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Joesph has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1881 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2017, when Joenathan had 6 and Joesph had 19.

Side by side

  Joenathan Joesph
Total US births 31215,662
Most in one year 12320
Babies in 2025 under 511
Estimated living today 23010,000
Median age today 5251
Peak year 19591957
Best rank 2,414th boys435th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked7,194th
First recorded 19341881
Girls / boys 0 / 31212 / 15,650

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Joenathan and Joesph.