Humanverse

Joseph vs Joshlynn

American parents have registered 2,680,213 Josephs since 1880, against 703 Joshlynns. Joseph is still ahead, with 7,315 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Joseph against Joshlynn, 1880 to 2025 0 10k 20k 30k 40k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Joseph Joshlynn

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

Joseph has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2016, when Joseph had 10,982 and Joshlynn had 35.

Side by side

  Joseph Joshlynn
Total US births 2,680,213703
Most in one year 32,83235
Babies in 2025 7,3158
Estimated living today 1.7 million700
Median age today 4415
Peak year 19562016
Best rank 12th boys4,157th girls
Rank in 2025 29th10,917th
First recorded 18801984
Girls / boys 10,723 / 2,669,490703 / 0

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.

Which name is older

Half of the Josephs alive today are over 44; half the Joshlynns are over 15. That is 29 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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