Josie
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Meaning
affectionate form of Josephine, ultimately connected with the Hebrew name Joseph
The story
Josie's roots and its Hong Kong life belong in the same story, but they are not the same thing. Josie is an English affectionate form of Josephine, the feminine form of Joseph, whose Hebrew root is traditionally read as may he add. Actor and singer Josie Ho gives the nickname-shaped form a prominent Hong Kong bearer. That use does not make the name etymologically Cantonese. It shows how a Hong Kong family may carry a character-based Chinese name and an English or international name for school, work, or life across languages. The US curve is old, quiet through much of the late twentieth century, and gently stronger again in recent decades. A public bearer can make a name feel familiar without proving why any family chose it, so the cultural example and the chart should not be confused. Josie now works both as a complete birth name and as a short form, but no page can know which role it plays for a particular person without being told.
The formal names behind Josie
Josie is an established short form of this name.
Josephine · Hebrew origin · Jehovah increases
Josie in song
Josie
Steely Dan (1977)
The neighborhood is breaking out the party for Josie coming home, and Walter Becker's guitar solo sends Aja out on a grin.
How popular is Josie around the world?
In the United States, 15,019 babies were named Josie between 2020 and 2025.
Josie is on the official records of the United States, Scotland, Canada, New Zealand, England and Wales, South Australia, Ireland, Austria, Mexico City, Brazil, France and Spain.
United States
1 in 1,500
In the United States, 15,019 babies were named Josie between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Josie peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Scotland
1 in 1,800
In Scotland, 26 girls named Josie were registered in 2024, the 160th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
Canada
1 in 2,200
In Canada, 165 girls named Josie were born in 2024, the 164th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
New Zealand
1 in 2,700
In New Zealand, 21 girls named Josie were registered in 2025.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
England and Wales
1 in 3,100
In England and Wales, 186 girls named Josie were born in 2025, the 250th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
South Australia
1 in 6,1002017
In South Australia, 3 girls were registered as Josie in 2017.
The count never rose above 8 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Ireland
1 in 6,800
In Ireland, 8 girls named Josie were born in 2025, the 443rd most common name among girls that year.
The count never rose above 9 in a year, too few to chart.
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Austria
1 in 15,000
In Austria, 5 girls named Josie were born in 2025, the 742nd most common name among girls that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
share of that year’s births on record
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Mexico City City
1 in 120,000
In Mexico City, there was 1 registration of Josie in 2022.
share of that year’s registrations in the city
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Brazil
1 in 120,000
At the 2022 census, 1,616 people in Brazil were named Josie, ranked 5,945th, with a median age of 40.
Among people named Josie living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1980s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
France
1 in 130,000
In France, about 5 girls named Josie were born in 2025, ranked 3,551st among girls that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Spain
1 in 1M
In Spain, 44 residents are named Josie, ranked 15,623rd among women, with a mean age of 47.9 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Argentina
last on record 2017
Josie is not on the 2024 record for Argentina, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Chile
last on record 2020
Josie is not on the 2021 record for Chile, where nametree keeps the spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year.
The count never rose above 5 in a year, too few to chart.
First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021
Not on the record in Puerto Rico and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
Keep exploring
The Josie deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Josie truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Josie fits with your family’s names and surname.
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