Humanverse

Yoseph vs Yoshio

American parents have registered 1,175 Yoshios 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 Yoshio, 1880 to 2025 0 20 40 60 80 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Yoseph Yoshio

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 79 years in which either name was published, Yoseph for 46 years and Yoshio for 33 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Yoseph Yoshio
Total US births 9581,175
Most in one year 3773
Babies in 2025 20under 5
Estimated living today 940190
Median age today 1934
Peak year 20051921
Best rank 2,846th boys790th boys
Rank in 2025 4,857thunranked
First recorded 19751910
Girls / boys 0 / 9580 / 1,175

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 Yoshios alive today are over 34; half the Yosephs are over 19. That is 15 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 Yoshio.