Humanverse

Yoseph vs Yoshiko

American parents have registered 1,331 Yoshikos since 1880, against 958 Yosephs. But in 2025 it was Yoseph that was commoner, 20 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Yoseph against Yoshiko, 1880 to 2025 0 25 50 75 100 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Yoseph Yoshiko

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 92 years in which either name was published, Yoshiko for 49 years and Yoseph for 43 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Yoseph Yoshiko
Total US births 9581,331
Most in one year 3785
Babies in 2025 20under 5
Estimated living today 940210
Median age today 1948
Peak year 20051921
Best rank 2,846th boys793rd girls
Rank in 2025 4,857thunranked
First recorded 19751906
Girls / boys 0 / 9581,331 / 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 Yoshikos alive today are over 48; half the Yosephs are over 19. 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: Yoseph and Yoshiko.