Józef

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Boy · Hebrew

Józef

Say it: YOO-zef

Try it with your surname

Meaning

Polish form of Joseph, from Hebrew Yosef 'he will add'.

Certainscholars agree on this meaning.

The commonest Polish man's name in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Its wave through time

Rare in the records

In the United States

1,111 babies given this name since 1914
At its height in 2005, about 1 in 35,000 boys
21 babies in 2020

Through the ages

Used by

The family of the name

Other spellings: Józek

Czech	Josef
Croatian	Josip
Russian	Iosif

Famous bearers

Józef Piłsudski, Polish statesman
Józef Poniatowski, Polish prince and marshal

Names worth a look

JoachimBoyHebrew Yehoyaqim, 'YHWH will raise up, establish'.Biblical · peak 1928

KacperBoyPolish form of Caspar, the name of one of the Magi in Western tradition, of uncertain, possibly Persian, origin.Renaissance · peak 2007

BogdanBoyFrom Slavic bog 'god' and dan 'given': 'given by God'.Middle Ages

ClemensBoyLatin clemens 'merciful, mild, gentle'.Rome · peak 1913

AntoniusBoyRoman family name of unknown, possibly Etruscan, origin. The popular link to Greek anthos 'flower', which gave the…Rome

StanisławBoyFrom Slavic stani 'become, stand' and sława 'glory'.Middle Ages

JosephBoyFrom Hebrew Yosef 'he will add', i.e. may God add another son.Biblical · peak 1914

JoséphineGirlFeminine of Joseph, from Hebrew Yosef 'he will add'.Revolutions · peak 1908

Where this comes from

The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
Parish baptism registers
National birth statistics of European countries source
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.