first name
JOSHUA
of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census
Of the 939,718 people named Joshua, 68.4% reported their origin as White, 14.3% as Hispanic or Latino and 9.1% as Black. Virtually all are male (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.
What should your name go on next?
Thanks! We'll make the most-wanted one next.
Joshua peaked in 1989, when 44,308 babies got the name.
At least 1,253,882 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.
Joshua by decade
Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 2000s, when it ranked #3. The largest share of babies named Joshua, 48.6%, were born between 1981 and 1996, as millennials.
Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.
Where Joshua is most common
Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Joshua has been most common in Alaska (1.9×), Nevada (1.7×), and Wyoming (1.5×), and least common in District of Columbia (0.63×).
1,248,525 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.
Either side of Joshua
Spelled almost the same
8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Joshua, most common first.
Also a last name
As a last name, Joshua ranks #9,339 of 156,621, with 3,344 people. See Joshua as a last name
Compare
🔎 JOSHUA 🟦🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 1 in 321 Americans More common than 84.3% of us Peaked in 1989 with 44,308 babies Beat that 👇 https://howrareismy.name/first/joshua/