← Back to The High and Late Middle Ages
Boy · Germanic or Breton
Josselin
Say it: zhoss-LAN
Meaning
Uncertain. From a Germanic diminutive such as Gauzelin, possibly from the Gauts (Goths), or linked to the Breton saint Judoc.
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
A medieval name, also a Breton town, revived modestly in France.
Its wave through time
Rare in the records
In the United States
- 795 babies given this name since 1992
- At its height in 2007, about 1 in 30,000 girls
- 11 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Joscelin
| English | Jocelyn |
|---|
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Medieval European charters and records
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.