Joshua
Joshua is ranked 57th among boys in 2024 (5,244 births). Its best rank was 3rd, in 2002–2006.
- Rank in 2024
- #57up 3 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 5,2440.31% of boys
- Peak year
- 198944,099 births
- Best rank
- #3first in 2002
- Since 1880
- 1,249,012people given the name
The story in the numbers
1,244,059 boys have been named Joshua in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1989, with 44,099 births — 2.2% of all boys recorded that year.
It is falling: its share of births is 60% or less of what it was ten years ago (rank 25 → 57).
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1991, and the 1980s alone account for 32%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 54 of them in the top 100 and 31 in the top 10.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 4,953 girls have also been given it, 0.40% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Joshua | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 465 | |
| 1890s | 287 | |
| 1900s | 243 | |
| 1910s | 926 | |
| 1920s | 1,143 | |
| 1930s | 948 | |
| 1940s | 1,156 | |
| 1950s | 2,222 | |
| 1960s | 5,326 | |
| 1970s | 140,325 | |
| 1980s | 396,530 | |
| 1990s | 329,184 | |
| 2000s | 232,037 | |
| 2010s | 106,229 | |
| 2020s | 27,038 |
In 1989, its biggest year
Joshua was the 4th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1989 were Michael, Christopher, Matthew, Joshua and David. See all of 1989.
Names that rose and fell with Joshua
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Ryanpeak 1985
- Jamallpeak 1980
- Justinpeak 1988
- Jonmichaelpeak 1985
- Shamelpeak 1993
- Jamarpeak 1989
- Jamelpeak 1988
- Antwaunpeak 1986
Other spellings in the data
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.