BabyNameScore

Josephine

JOH·zə·feen · French feminine diminutive/derivative of Joseph, itself from Hebrew Yosef · 3 syllables

Josephine is comfortably familiar.

87/100

Strong Practical Fit

Balanced across pronunciation, everyday use, lifetime fit and international use.

Name Profile

  1. Pronunciation & Spelling

    Clear, with one common misreading

    90/100

  2. Everyday Use

    Low risk

    Shortens naturally in everyday use, with five established short forms.

    95/100

  3. Growing Up

    Strong lifetime fit

    Works comfortably across child and adult settings.

    82/100

  4. International Use

    Broad international fit

    Works cleanly across the assessed languages and writing systems.

    85/100

NAME DETAILS

COMMON FORMS
Jo
Josie
Joey
Fifi
Jojo
OTHER-LANGUAGE FORMS
Joséphine
Josefina/Josephina
Iosiphina
Seosaimhín
ORIGIN & HISTORY

About the name

Josephine's most historically significant bearer is Joséphine de Beauharnais (born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie in Martinique, and known simply as 'Rose' for most of her early life), who became Napoleon Bonaparte's wife in 1796 and Empress of the French from 1804 until their 1809 divorce. Napoleon himself began calling her 'Joséphine' rather than her birth name Rose, and it was this adopted form — following her prominence — that drove the name's surge in French and then wider European usage after 1800. As the feminine form of Joseph, Josephine inherits Joseph's Hebrew root meaning rather than having an independently coined etymology of its own; see the Joseph entry in this batch for the underlying (and textually disputed) Hebrew derivation.

  1. Joséphine (French). "God will add" / "Jehovah increases" (shared root meaning with Joseph). Beyond Empress Josephine, the name is carried by contemporary royalty, including Princess Josephine Sophia Ivalo Mathilda of Denmark, reflecting its continued use in European royal and aristocratic naming traditions.
POPULARITY

Josephine over time

United States
#53RANK

Rank #53 gives national context, not a classroom forecast.

Recognizable without feeling automatic. Ranked #53 in the U.S., 2025.

SourceU.S. Social Security Administration · 2025 release

Pronunciation & Forms

SAY IT

JOH·zə·feen

STRESS ON THE FIRST SYLLABLE

COMMON FORMS
  • Jo
  • Josie
  • Joey
  • Fifi
  • Jojo
CLOSE SPELLINGS
  • Josphinecommon typo
OTHER-LANGUAGE FORMS
  • JoséphineFR
  • Josefina/JosephinaES
  • IosiphinaEL
  • SeosaimhínGA
PRACTICAL LIFE

How This Name Lives

AT SCHOOL & DAY TO DAY

Shortens naturally and fashionably to 'Josie' or 'Jo' for a young girl, both currently popular standalone nickname choices in their own right.

INTO ADULTHOOD

The full 'Josephine' carries a formal, dignified register well suited to adult professional contexts, while still offering the casual 'Jo'/'Josie' register for everyday use.

Cultural Footprint

TRACEABLE ORIGIN
  1. Joséphine de BeauharnaisEmpress of the French, wife of Napoleon
  2. Josephine Bakerentertainer and French Resistance member
  3. Jo MarchLittle Women, literary character

Community Impressions

Josephine reads as elegant, literary, and quietly regal — shaped strongly by its two most famous historical bearers, Empress Josephine (Napoleon's wife) and Jo March of Little Women, rather than by any contemporary pop-culture figure. It has the vintage-revival profile of names like Charlotte or Eleanor: currently rising sharply in the US (from outside the top 100 a decade ago to the top 60 today) after a long mid-20th-century lull, giving it a fashionable-but-not-overused feel.

How this name is commonly received · not used in the score

More about Josephine

FORMALITY

Full 'Josephine' for formal use; 'Jo,' 'Josie,' or 'Joey' for informal/family use.

Names around it

JosephView  →

masculine root form

EDITORIAL SYNTHESIS

The Decision

Josephine is spelled without unusual letter patterns, and it holds up in everyday use. Surname-dependent compatibility remains unassessed until a surname is added.

STRENGTH

English speakers will most likely pronounce it correctly on the first try. Uses standard characters that systems widely handle cleanly.

BEST FIT

Everyday Use is the strongest-scoring part of this name — no obvious nickname traps, rhymes, or initial issues detected.

FULL-NAME CHECK

See how it works with a surname.

Josephine