Josephene vs Joshua
American parents have registered 1,253,882 Joshuas since 1880, against 278 Josephenes. Joshua is still ahead, with 4,773 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Josephene Joshua
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
Joshua 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 1905, when Josephene had 6 and Joshua had 18.
Side by side
| Josephene | Joshua | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 278 | 1,253,882 |
| Most in one year | 16 | 44,308 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 4,773 |
| Estimated living today | 70 | 1.2 million |
| Median age today | 78 | 33 |
| Peak year | 1919 | 1989 |
| Best rank | 2,156th girls | 4th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 66th |
| First recorded | 1905 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 278 / 0 | 4,953 / 1,248,929 |
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 Josephenes alive today are over 78; half the Joshuas are over 33. That is 45 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Josephene and Joshua.