Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew "like all other Hebrew names beginning with the syllable "Jo," it has Yhwh as its first element" (). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic countries. In Portuguese and Spanish, the name is "José". In Catalan it is "Josep". In Arabic, including in the Quran, the name is spelled , . In Kurdish (Kurdî), the name is , Persian, the name is , and in Turkish it is . In Pashto the name is spelled Esaf (ايسپ) and in Malayalam it is spelled Ousep (ഔസേപ്പ്). In Tamil, it is spelled as Yosepu (யோசேப்பு).
The name has enjoyed significant popularity in its many forms in numerous countries, and Joseph was one of the two names (along with Robert) to have remained in the top 10 boys' names list in the US from 1925 to 1972. It is especially common in contemporary Israel, as either "Yossi" or "Yossef", and in Italy, where the name "Giuseppe" was the most common male name in the 20th century. In the first century CE, Yosef was the second most popular male name for Jews.Ilan, Tal (2002) Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity: Israel 330 BCE–200 CE (Texts & Studies in Ancient Judaism, 91), Coronet Books, pp. 56–57; Hachili, R. "Hebrew Names, Personal Names, Family Names and Nicknames of Jews in the Second Temple Period," in J. W. van Henten and A. Brenner, eds., Families and Family Relations as Represented in Early Judaism and Early Christianity (STAR 2; Leiden:Deo, 2000), pp. 113–115 (note: Hachili placed Joseph in the third place after Yohanan based on narrower basis on data than Ilan's, whereas Bauckham's calculation, based on Ilan's data, places Joseph at the second place); Quote (p. 71): 15.6% of men bore one of the two most popular male names, Simon and Joseph; (p. 72): for the Gospels and Acts... 18.2% of men bore one of the two most popular male names, Simon and Joseph.
In the Book of Genesis Joseph is Jacob's eleventh son and Rachel's first son, and known in the Hebrew Bible as Yossef ben-Yaakov. In the New Testament the most notable two are Joseph of Nazareth, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus and Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple of Jesus Christ who supplied the tomb in which Jesus was buried.
Etymology The Bible offers two explanations for the origins of the name Yosef: first, it is compared to the word from the root /'sp/, : "And she conceived, and bore a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach"; Yosef is then identified with the similar root /ysp/, meaning : "And she called his name Joseph; and said, The shall add to me another son."Friedman, R. E., The Bible with Sources Revealed (2003), p. 80 The Jewish Encyclopedia says that it is a theophoric name referencing the Tetragrammaton, and in fact his name is spelled Jehoseph, with the theophoric first syllable 'Jeho', once in Psalms. "like all other Hebrew names beginning with the syllable 'Jo,' it has Yhwh as its first element". The name can also consist of the Hebrew yadah meaning "praise", "fame" and the word asaf.
Variants, diminutives and familiar forms in other languages
Variations for males include: Afrikaans: Josef, Joesoef Albanian: Jozef, Zef, Josif, Jozë, Isuf, Bep, Bibë Alemmanic: Sepp, Seppu Alsatian: Sepp Amharic: (Yosēfi) Aragonese: Chusep, Chusé Aramaic: (Yawsef, Yowsef) Armenian: (Hovsep) Arabic: (Yūsif, Youssef, Yussef, Yousif, Yousef, Youssof, Yūsuf, Yusef) Arpitan: Dzozè Azerbaijani: Yusif, Yusuf, Usub Basque: Joseba, Josepe Bavarian: Sepp, Bepperl, Beppe, Beppi, Belarusian: (Iosif), (Jazep) Bengali: (Iusuf) Betawi: Yusuf, Yusup, Ucup. Bosnian: Josip, Jusuf Breton: Jozef, Jozeb Bulgarian: (Yosif) Burmese (Myanmar): (Yaw sautsai) Cantonese: (Joek sat) Catalan: Josep, Pep (shortened form), Jep (an alternative shortened form) Circassian: (Yusyf) Cornish: Josep Corsican: Ghjaseppu, Ghjiseppu; Diminutives: Ghjasè, Ghjisè, Sipparellu, Sgiusgiunellu Croatian: Josip, Joso, Jozo, Joza, Joze, Joško, Joža, Jože, Bepo, Bepi, Bapi, Pino, Osíp, Bozo, Gonzo, Ganso Czech: Josef; Diminutives: Pepa, Peppa, Pepík, Pepik, Jožka, Pepan, Pepča, Pepek, Pepino, Jožin Danish: Josef Dutch: Jozef, Josephus; Diminutives: Joep, Joost, Jos, Jo, Jef, Seppe English: Joseph, Diminutives: Jo, Joe, Joey, Josy, Jossy, Josey, Jos, Josie Estonian: Joosep, Joosu Faroese: Jósef Fijian: Josefa Filipino: Joseph, José, Pepe, Peping, Sep, Jojo Finnish: Jooseppi, Juuso French: José, Joseph, Jojo Friulian: Josef, 'Sef, 'Sefin, 'Sefut, Bepi, Bepo, Beput Galician: Xosé Georgian: (Ioseb), (Soso) German: Joscha, Josef, Joseph; Jupp (familiar); Sepp, Seppl or Pepi (familiar or diminutive forms, particularly in South Germany and Austria) Greek: (Iosif), (Iosipos), (Sifis) (local in Crete) Gujarati: (Jōsēfa) Hawaiian: Iokepa Hebrew: (Yosef), (Yossi) (diminutive), (Sefi) (diminutive) Hiligaynon: José, Josef, Josep (rare) Hindi: (Yūsuf) Hungarian: József, Jóska, Józsi (diminutive) Icelandic: Jósef, Jói Igbo: Yôsēp̄, Yossef, Josef Indonesian: Joesoef, Josef, Joseph, Jusuf, Ucup, Yosef, Yosep, Yusuf, Yusup, Yoseph, Yosi Italian: Giuseppe, Giù, Beppe, Peppe, Peppino, Pepino, Pino, Bepi, Beppo, Pippo, Puccio, Gioseffo, Gio or Giò Irish: Seosamh, Iósaf Japanese: (Yosefu), (Josefu) Kambaata: Yeseffe, Yese, Josse, Jossy Kannada: (Jōseph) Kashmiri: (Yūsuf) Kazakh: Yusuf, Jusip Khmer: (Yousaep) Korean: (Yosep), (Josep) Kurdish (Kurdî): Ûsiv, Yûsiv Kyrgyz: (Jusup), Юс Latvian: Jāzeps, Jozefs, Josefs, Josifs, Džozefs, Žozefs, Jusufs, Jozis, Zeps, Seps Limburgish: Joep, Sef Lithuanian: Juozapas, Juozas (shorter form), Juzas, Juzė (diminutive), Justas Lombard: Usèp, Jusèp, Bèp Luganda: Yusufu, Yozefu Macedonian: (J̌osif) Malayalam: (Josapp) or (Josappan), (Ousepp), (Yosepp), (Kochaappu), (Eeppan), (Jōsaph), (Iype) Malaysian: Yusuf, Yusop, Yusoff, Jusoh, Eusoff, Usop Manado Malay: Josef, Yosef, Oce' Maltese: Ġużeppi, Ġużi, Ġuż, Ġużè, Peppi, Peppu, Peppinu, Pepp, Peppa, Pepa, Żeppi, Żeppu, Żepp Mandarin: , , Marathi: (Jōsēfa) Māori: Hohepa Mongolian: (Iosyef) Nepali: (Yūsupha) Norwegian: Josef Occitan: Josèp Persian: (Youssef, Yūsuf, Yussef) Polish: Józef, Józek (diminutive), Józio (diminutive) Portuguese: José, Josefo, Joséf; diminutive forms: Zé, Zeca, Zezé Provençal: Jóusè Punjabi: (Yūsufa) Quechua: Husiy Romanian: Iosif, Iosub Romansch: Giusep, Gisep, Giusi, Sepp Russian: (Iosif), (Osip), (Peppa) Samoan: Iosefa, Sefa Sardinian: Josepe, Zosepe, Gisepu Scottish Gaelic: Seòsaidh, Eòsaph, Iòsaph Serbian: (Josif), (Josip), (Josef), (Jozef) Sepedi: Josefa Sicilian: Giuseppi Silesian: Zefel, Zeflik (diminutive) Sinhala: (Juse), (Jōsēf) Slovak: Jozef, Jožo, Dodo, Ďoďo Slovene: Jožef, Jože Somali: Spanish: José; hypocoristic versions: Pepe, Chepe, Che, Cheo, Chelo Sundanese: Ucup, Yusup, Yosep Swahili: Yusuph, Yusufu, Yosefu Swedish: Josef Syriac: (Yosip, Yausef, Ossi) Tagalog: Jose, Pepe, Peping Tamil: (sūsai), (yōcēppu) Tajik: (Yusuf) Telugu: (Yōsepu) Thai: (Co sef, Josef) Tigrinya: (Yosēf) Tongan: Siosefa Turkish: Yusuf Turkmen: Yusup Tyap: Ukrainian: (Josyp), (Osyp) (Yūsuf) Uzbek: Yusuf Valencian: Josep Venetian: Juxepe, Bepi, Bepin, Bapi Vietnamese: Giu-se or Giô-xếp or Yuse or Giô-sép Vilamovian: Juza Welsh: Joseff, Ioseff (or, less commonly, Iosep) Yiddish: Yissl, Yussel, Jayzl Yoruba: Josefu, Yusufu Shona: Joze, Joza Zulu: uJosef
Female forms
Albanian: Jozefina, Zefina Catalan: Josepa, Pepa, Peppa (shortened) Cornish: Josepa Croatian: Josipa, Josica, Jozica Czech: Josefina, Josefa, Jozeva Dutch: José, Josefien English: Jo, Josephine, Joette, Posy, Posie French: Joséphine, Josephte, Josepthe Friulian: Josefe, 'Sefe, Pine Greek: (Iosiphina) Hungarian: Jozefa, Jozefina, Józsa Indonesian: Yosephine, Josefa, Josepha, Josephira, Josephine, Josephina, Yosefin, Yosefina, Josefina, Yosepha Irish: Seosaimhín Italian: Giuseppa, Giuseppina Maltese: Ġuża, Ġużeppa Norwegian: Josefine, Josephine Polish: Józefina, Józefa, Józia (shortened) Portuguese: Josefa, Josefina, José (mainly in the compound Maria José), Zezé (nickname) Romansh: Giuseppa, Giuseppina Samoan: Iosefina Sardinian: Josepa, Zosepa, Zosepedda Slovak: Jozefína, Jozefa Spanish: Josefa, Josefina, Josefita Swedish: Josefin, Josefine, Josephine, Josefina Yiddish: Jayzl, Yissl
People
See also Hohepa (disambiguation) Increase (given name) Joe (disambiguation) Josef (disambiguation) Jozef József Saint Joseph (disambiguation) Patriarch Joseph (disambiguation) Yosef (disambiguation), a variation of the name in Hebrew, and the Dutch eye dialect of the name Yusuf (disambiguation), as rendered in Islam/Arabic Boleslav and Václav, often treated as Slavic translations of Joseph due to their similar meanings.
References