The meaning of the name “Joshua” is: “God rescues; Jehovah Saves”.
Additional information: Joshua is a masculine Hebrew name that means ‘God is Salvation’. It came from the Hebrew given name ‘יהושע’ (Yehoshua), which was an alternative spelling of יֵשׁוּעַ (Yeshua). If Yeshua is translated into Greek (Iesous) and then into Latin (Iesus), you get the English ‘Jesus’. In the Old Testament, Joshua was appointed by God to lead the Israelites after Moses' death. Joshua is still a popular Jewish name, as Joshua succeeded Moses as the leader of the Israelites. Names similar to Joshua are the biblical Noah and Isaac, and the similar sounding Asher and Josiah. The typical nickname for Joshua is Josh, a name in its own right. With roots in Greek and Latin, Joshua has several very different looking foreign spellings, including Yushua (Arabic), Jozua (Dutch), Josué (French), Giosuè (Italian), and Jesús (Spanish). Common misspellings are ‘Josha’ and ‘Joshau’.
Although Joshua stayed in the top thousand names for boys in the USA from 1880, it didn’t start to enjoy real popularity as a name until the 1970s, when it started the decade at #150 and ended it at #9 on the most popular name for boys list. It peaked at third from 2002 until 2006, and since then it has been slowly decreasing in popularity, settling at 25th in 2014. Interestingly, at the same time Joshua initially became popular as a boys name, the name crept into the top thousand names for girls from 1978 until 1989 in the USA. In the UK, the name Joshua saw a spike of popularity from 2002 to 2005, but has since fallen from the second most popular name to the twelfth in 2013.
Both Josh Groban (American musician) and Josh Hutcherson (American actor) were originally given the name Joshua. Other famous people named Joshua are Joshua Radin (American musician) and Joshua Cohen (American author).
There is an urban legend that NASA managed to ‘prove’ the Bible when their computers, which were tracking the movements of the planets in the past and future so that satellites wouldn’t crash into them hundreds of years down the line, had discovered a missing day that matched up perfectly with the story of a missing day in Joshua 10, giving the day the name ‘the missing day of Joshua’.
The first thing you should know if you are considering Joshua for your baby's name is that in most countries all over the world the name Joshua is a boy name.
The name Joshua is of Hebrew origin, and is used mostly in English speaking countries but also in a few other countries and languages of the world.
If you consider naming your baby Joshua we recommend you take note of the special meaning and history of the name as your baby’s name will play a big role in its life and your baby will hear it spoken every day. Searching for a name is a very important and fun process as it’s the very first gift you will give to your baby. Many people believe that the name can affect success in life, through their children's working career and other circumstances, so they choose more “respectable” names or name meanings as they believe that the name meaning reflects the personality of the child.
Joshua Name Meaning
The meaning of Joshua is “God rescues; Jehovah Saves”. Keep in mind that many names may have different meanings in other countries and languages, so be careful that the name that you choose doesn’t mean something bad or unpleasant. Search comprehensively and find the name meaning of Joshua and its name origin or of any other name in our database. Also note the spelling and the pronunciation of the name Joshua and check the initials of the name with your last name to discover how it looks and sounds. The history and meaning of the name Joshua is fascinating, learn more about it. (If you know more meanings of the name and you would like to contribute click here to submit another name meaning).
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Name Joshua Categories
The name Joshua is in the following categories: Biblical Names, British Names, Christian Names, English Names, Jewish Names. (If you would like to suggest one or more categories for the name, click here). We have plenty of different baby name categories to search for special meanings plus popular and unique names, search our database before choosing but also note that baby name categories designed to help you and not to be an influential factor when choosing a name. Instead, we recommend that you pay a greater attention to the origin and meaning of the name Joshua. Read our baby name articles for useful tips regarding baby names and naming your baby. If you are thinking of giving your baby the beautiful name Joshua, spread the love and share this with your friends.
Popularity of the Name Joshua
Below you will find the popularity of the baby name Joshua displayed annually, from 1880 to the present day in our name popularity chart. Hover over or click on the dots that represent a year to see how many babies were given the name for that year, for both genders, if available.
Joshua Boy Name Popularity Chart
Joshua Girl Name Popularity Chart
Note:The data above is from the Social Security Administrator of United States, (more info here) from Social Security card applications for births in US for every name, from 1880 up to the present year. The gender associated with the name might be incorrect, as the data presents the record applications without being edited for errors. The name's popularity and ranking is announced annually, so the data for this year will not be available until next year. The more babies that are given a name, the higher popularity ranking the name receives. For names with the same popularity, the tie is solved by assigning popularity rank in alphabetical order. This means that if two or more names have the same popularity their rankings may differ significantly, as they are set in alphabetical order. If a name has less than five occurrences, the SSA excludes it from the provided data to protect privacy.
If you’re not sure yet, see our wide selection of both boy names and girl names all over the world to find the ideal name for your new born baby. We offer a comprehensive and meaningful list of popular names and cool names along with the name's origin, meaning, pronunciation, popularity and additional information.
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Do your research and choose a name wisely, kindly and selflessly.
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Joshua
