Jose

What Jose means

Same root as Joseph, meaning “(God) shall add”

Doublet of Joseph || From Middle English Ioseph, ultimately from Biblical Hebrew יוֹסֵף (Yoséf, literally “(God) shall add”); a son of Jacob.

Source: Wiktionary, “Jose” (revision 94540601) and “Joseph” (revision 94596337), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Jose?

US: Falling: down from #80 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #833 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2002, when 12,868 boys got the name (#30 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 464 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 12,949 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in NM (5.69 per 1,000 boys), TX (5.66 per 1,000 boys), AZ (5.65 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Jose is #95 in the US and #1307 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Jose were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Jace3,083 US · 126 E&W
• Jesse2,002 US · 980 E&W
• Jase375 US · 11 E&W
• Jayse29 US
• Joss8 US · 16 E&W
• Jess18 US · 3 E&W
• Jos0 US · 15 E&W
• Jese10 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Jose

Boys

• Jorge#322Same root as George, meaning “farmer, earth worker”^*
• Raul#634Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2000, with 1,519 babies; 440 in 2025
• Ernesto#878Spanish form of Ernest, meaning “vigor, strife”^*
• Francisco#322Same root as Francis, meaning “Frankish (man); a Frank”^*
• Ricardo#380Same root as Richard, meaning “king, ruler + hard, brave”^*
• Antonio#176Same root as Anthony, meaning “flower”^*

For a sister

• Alejandra#604Same root as Alexandra, meaning “to defend + man”^*
• Angelica#707Italian, meaning “angelic”^*
• Andrea#235Feminine form of Andreas, meaning “manly”^*
• Angel#546Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2002, with 3,100 babies; 551 in 2025
• Bianca#500Form of Blanche, meaning “white”^*
• Ana#245Editor’s note Down from #211 in 2015 to #245 in 2025 in the US

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Spanish & Italian, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Jose’s. Rank is US 2025.