Josiah vs Jossie
American parents have registered 149,420 Josiahs since 1880, against 2,051 Jossies. Josiah is still ahead, with 5,522 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Josiah Jossie
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
Of the 146 years in which either name was published, Josiah for 105 years and Jossie for 41 years. The lead changed hands 20 times.
- 1880–1889 Josiah ahead
- 1890–1911 Jossie ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1914–1919 Josiah ahead
- 1925–1936 Jossie ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1942–1944 Josiah ahead
- 1945–1947 Jossie ahead
- 1948–2025 Josiah ahead
12 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Josiah | Jossie | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 149,420 | 2,051 |
| Most in one year | 7,092 | 45 |
| Babies in 2025 | 5,522 | 6 |
| Estimated living today | 146,000 | 780 |
| Median age today | 11 | 34 |
| Peak year | 2017 | 1926 |
| Best rank | 51st boys | 1,133rd girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 54th | 13,208th |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 462 / 148,958 | 2,034 / 17 |
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 Jossies alive today are over 34; half the Josiahs are over 11. That is 23 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Josiah New Mexico (2.8×), Alaska (2.3×), Nevada (2.2×)
- Jossie Mississippi (29.5×), Alabama (4.6×), Georgia (4.1×)
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: Josiah and Jossie.