How popular is the baby name Joshua in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Joshua.

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Popularity of the baby name Joshua


Posts that mention the name Joshua

Most popular first letter-pairs of U.S. baby names

Mathematically speaking, it’s possible to construct 676 pairs of letters from a 26-letter alphabet. In terms of baby names, though, only a portion of these pairs can realistically be used to start a baby name.

If you look at each of the 6,692 names that have ever ranked among the most popular U.S. (1880-2006), you’ll notice that only 233 two-letter combinations have ever been used at the beginning of the names (e.g., “Na-” for Nancy, or “Ev-” for Evan).

So…what’s the most common pair of starting letters?

Ma– is the clear winner. It starts nearly twice as many names as Ja-, the second most common starting letter-pair.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown of all the two-letter combinations that have started at least 100 ranked baby names:

  • 331 “Ma-” names (Mark, Mandy, Matthias, Marylouise)
  • 177 “Ja-” names (Jane, Jacob, Jaleesa, Jamarion)
  • 174 “Al-” names (Alf, Alice, Alphonso, Albertina)
  • 167 “De-” names (Dean, Della, Devontae, Demetria)
  • 157 “Ka-” names (Karl, Katie, Kameron, Katharina)
  • 144 “Sh-” names (Shane, Sherman, Shanice, Sheridan)
  • 143 “Ca-” names (Cash, Cadence, Carmella, Casimiro)
  • 139 “Da-” names (Dave, Daisy, Damarcus, Dayanara)
  • 125 “El-” names (Elmo, Elyse, Elijah, Eleanora)
  • 121 “Ro-” names (Ross, Roxie, Roosevelt, Rosalinda)
  • 118 “Br-” names (Bruce, Brenda, Bryson, Brittany)
  • 118 “Ch-” names (Chad, Chantal, Christopher, Christiana)
  • 117 “La-” names (Lane, Laura, Lafayette, Lakeshia)
  • 113 “Le-” names (Les, Leah, Leandra, Leopoldo)
  • 102 “Je-” names (Jeff, Jewel, Jennifer, Jeremiah)
  • 101 “Jo-” names (John, Joanna, Joshua, Josefina)
  • 100 “Ar-” names (Art, Arla, Armani, Araceli)

Popular baby names in New York City, 2006

Flag of New York
Flag of New York

The top baby names in New York City in 2006 were Ashley and Michael, according to a list released yesterday by New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Here are the full top-ten lists for each gender…

Girl Names

  1. Ashley, 518 baby girls
  2. Emily, 504
  3. Isabella, 457
  4. Sarah, 409
  5. Kayla, 406
  6. Sophia, 402
  7. Mia, 384
  8. Madison, 333
  9. Brianna, 326 (tie)
  10. Samantha, 326 (tie)

Boy Names

  1. Michael, 805 baby boys
  2. Daniel, 766
  3. Matthew, 748
  4. Joshua, 736
  5. Justin, 718
  6. David, 700
  7. Christopher, 675
  8. Joseph, 643
  9. Anthony, 639
  10. Jayden, 591

Many rare and unusual names ranked as well. Examples include:

  • Girls: Aissatou, Breindy, Egypt, Fanta, Fraidy, Frimet, Kadiatou, Noor, Pessy, Reem, Rivky, Shaindy, Tziporah, Yides, Yu, Zissy
  • Boys: Achilles, Adriel, Alpha, Dovid, Hershy, Jhon, Kacper, Kymani, Lazer, Mamadou, Naftuli, Sekou, Tzvi, Usman, Vladimir, Zalmen

Also, Tenzin was a cool one that managed to rank for both genders — it was given to 11 boys and 22 girls in NYC last year.

Source: Popular Baby Names – NYC.gov (pdf)

Image: Adapted from Flag of New York (public domain)

The Duggar family of Arkansas

Former Arkansas state legislator Jim Bob Duggar and his wife Michelle have had nineteen children — 9 daughters and 10 sons. Here are their names, from oldest to youngest:

  1. Joshua, born in 1988
  2. Jana, 1990 (twin)
  3. John-David, 1990 (twin)
  4. Jill, 1991
  5. Jessa, 1992
  6. Jinger, 1993
  7. Joseph, 1995
  8. Josiah, 1996
  9. Joy-Anna, 1997
  10. Jedidiah, 1998 (twin)
  11. Jeremiah, 1998 (twin)
  12. Jason, 2000
  13. James, 2001
  14. Justin, 2002
  15. Jackson, 2004
  16. Johannah, 2005
  17. Jennifer, 2007
  18. Jordyn-Grace, 2008
  19. Josie, 2009

They certainly stuck with their chosen theme, didn’t they?

I’m a little sad they didn’t go with alphabetical names, though. This is one of the few modern families I know of that could potentially have ended up with 26 kids.

[Latest update: May 2021]

Popular baby names in the United States, 2006

Flag of the United States
Flag of the United States

The 2006 list of popular names is finally here!

Here are the new top 20 girl names and boys names, according to the SSA. The positive and negative numbers indicate how a name has risen or fallen in rank since 2005.

Girl Names

  1. Emily
  2. Emma
  3. Madison
  4. Isabella (+2)
  5. Ava (+4)
  6. Abigail (-2)
  7. Olivia (-2)
  8. Hannah (-1)
  9. Sophia (+2)
  10. Samantha (-2)
  11. Elizabeth (+1)
  12. Ashley (-2)
  13. Mia (+4)
  14. Alexis (-1)
  15. Sarah
  16. Natalie (+2)
  17. Grace (-3)
  18. Chloe (+1)
  19. Alyssa (-3)
  20. Brianna

Boy Names

  1. Jacob
  2. Michael
  3. Joshua
  4. Ethan (+1)
  5. Matthew (-1)
  6. Daniel (+1)
  7. Christopher (+2)
  8. Andrew (-2)
  9. Anthony (-1)
  10. William (+1)
  11. Joseph (-1)
  12. Alexander
  13. David
  14. Ryan
  15. Noah (new)
  16. James (+1)
  17. Nicholas (-2)
  18. Tyler (-2)
  19. Logan (new)
  20. John (-2)

The top 20 girl names stayed exactly the same — they’re just in a different order now.

The top 20 boy names are nearly the same, except Jonathan and Nathan were bumped off in favor of Noah and Logan.

Finally, names new to the top 1,000 included…

  • Girl names: Paisley (#835), Yaretzi (#837), Scarlet (#843), Bethzy (#878), Jorja (#969), Sanai (#974), Dahlia (#988)
  • Boy names: Yandel (#674), Zayden (#871), Izayah (#976)

I also saw a number of interesting second-timers, including Imanol (969th for boys) and Yuridia (894th for girls).

Source: SSA

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United States (public domain)