US baby names · Boys · 1880–2025
Joshua: name popularity by year
How often US parents chose Joshua for a baby boy, year by year, from Social Security Administration records. When it peaked, how long it stayed in the top 10, and which generation it belongs to.
Joshua was one of the 10 most common boys' names in the US in 31 years, between 1979 and 2009, reaching #3. Births peaked in 1989, when 44,100 baby boys were named Joshua, so by peak year it is a Millennials name.
Joshua in the US top 10, by year
Rank among boys' names, #1 at the top. Blank years: outside the top 10. Dashed line: the year with the most babies named Joshua (1989).
Top-10 years by generation
| Generation | Years in top 10 | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 2 (1979–1980) | #7 |
| Millennials | 16 (1981–1996) | #4 |
| Generation Z | 13 (1997–2009) | #3 |
Every top-10 year
Questions people ask
When was the name Joshua most popular?
By number of babies, in 1989, when 44,100 boys were given the name. By rank, it reached #3 and spent 31 years in the top 10.
What generation is the name Joshua?
Its peak year, 1989, falls in Millennials (1981–1996). Its 31 top-10 years fall in: Generation X (2), Millennials (16), Generation Z (13).
How many people have been named Joshua?
SSA counted 1,248,929 boys named Joshua born from 1880 to 2025. That is births, not people alive today, and it misses many people born before 1937 who never applied for a Social Security card.
In the top 10 at the same time
Source: US Social Security Administration baby-name data, from Social Security card applications for births in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, 1880–2025. Many people born before 1937 never applied for a card, so early years undercount. Spellings are counted separately. We hold each year's top 10 in rank order and each name's peak-year and all-time counts, so the chart shows rank rather than births per year. This page gives no meaning or origin for the name and no estimate of how many people named Joshua are alive today.