MEANING & CONTEXT
What does Joseph mean?
Joseph comes through European languages from Hebrew Yosef, traditionally understood as may he add. The biblical name also appears in the Arabic form Yusuf.
Meaning themes
Spellings in Indian scripts
Devanagari
जोसेफ़
Conventional spelling
HISTORICAL VOTER RECORDS
Joseph in Indian usage
88,019 historical electoral-roll records, chiefly adults, rather than current baby-name rankings.
Mostly recorded for boys (99.7%) in these historical records.
- Recorded as female: 290 records (0.3%).
- Recorded as male: 87,729 records (99.7%).
By birth decade
| Birth decade | Records |
|---|---|
| 1930s | 5,413 |
| 1940s | 13,349 |
| 1950s | 22,130 |
| 1960s | 20,838 |
| 1970s | 12,291 |
| 1980s | 8,191 |
| 1990s | 4,997 |
| Other decades | 810 |
By state or territory
| State / territory | Records |
|---|---|
| Kerala | 79,103 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 2,755 |
| Mizoram | 1,604 |
| Goa | 1,397 |
| Manipur | 659 |
| Puducherry | 560 |
| Meghalaya | 541 |
| Delhi | 451 |
| Nagaland | 421 |
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 266 |
| Other states | 262 |
How to read these numbers
Small counts and a second count where needed are withheld for privacy; an omitted value is not zero. Coverage, dates and suppression.
Recorded abroad
Official births registered in 2025, for the exact spelling shown.
| Jurisdiction | Spelling / recorded sex | Births | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| England & Wales | Joseph / M | 811 | 59 |
| Scotland | Joseph / M | 71 | 65 |
ONS and National Records of Scotland; Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3. Counts follow each office’s publication rules.
Explore related lists
Sources
- Given-name entry (Wikidata): Joseph ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Given-name spelling
- Historical Indian voter-record totals, v3 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Historical usage; CC0 1.0; birth years 1910–2001
- England & Wales 2025 birth statistics: Exact spelling Joseph; Table_6, C65 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Exact spelling Joseph; Table_6, C65
- Scotland 2025 birth statistics: Exact spelling Joseph; full-list-1974-2025.csv; 2025 Boy ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Exact spelling Joseph; full-list-1974-2025.csv; 2025 Boy