Humanverse

Joshlynn vs Josiah

American parents have registered 149,420 Josiahs since 1880, against 703 Joshlynns. Josiah is still ahead, with 5,522 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Joshlynn against Josiah, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Joshlynn Josiah

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

Josiah 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 1987, when Joshlynn had 11 and Josiah had 502.

Side by side

  Joshlynn Josiah
Total US births 703149,420
Most in one year 357,092
Babies in 2025 85,522
Estimated living today 700146,000
Median age today 1511
Peak year 20162017
Best rank 4,157th girls51st boys
Rank in 2025 10,917th54th
First recorded 19841880
Girls / boys 703 / 0462 / 148,958

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 Joshlynns alive today are over 15; half the Josiahs are over 11. That is 4 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: Joshlynn and Josiah.