BabyNameScore

Josiah

joh·SY·uh · 3 syllables

Josiah is comfortably familiar.

91/100

Strong Practical Fit

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

Name Profile

  1. Pronunciation & Spelling

    Clear, with one common misreading

    A documented English pronunciation is on file: joh-SY-uh. Commonly mispronounced as joh-SIGH-uh.

    91/100

  2. Everyday Use

    Low risk

    Shortens naturally in everyday use, with two 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
Joe
Si
CLOSE SPELLINGS
Josias
OTHER-LANGUAGE FORMS
Josías
Iosia
ORIGIN & HISTORY

About the name

King Josiah of Judah (traditionally c. 640-609 BCE) came to the throne at age eight after his father Amon's assassination. In the eighteenth year of his reign, the high priest Hilkiah reportedly rediscovered the Book of the Law in the Temple; hearing it read, Josiah tore his clothes in distress and led a sweeping covenant renewal and purge of idolatrous worship (2 Kings 22-23).

  1. יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ (Yoshiyahu). Generally rendered as "Yahweh heals" or "Yahweh supports," combining a form of Yah(weh) with a root connected to either "support" (ʾashya) or "to heal." Josiah's reforms extended his religious purge into former northern-kingdom territory then under Assyrian control, and 2 Kings presents him as the most thoroughly righteous king in that narrative tradition — the only one credited with fully implementing the rediscovered Law. He died in battle against Egyptian forces at Megiddo.
  2. Mythological and religious contextJosiah is a canonical figure in the Hebrew Bible's Deuteronomistic History (2 Kings 22-23; 2 Chronicles 34-35) and is also listed among the ancestors of Jesus in the genealogy given in the Gospel of Matthew, giving the name a secondary New Testament touchpoint beyond its Old Testament origin.
POPULARITY

Josiah over time

United States
#54RANK

Rank #54 gives national context, not a classroom forecast.

Recognizable without feeling automatic. Ranked #54 in the U.S., 2025.

SourceU.S. Social Security Administration · 2025 release

Pronunciation & Forms

SAY IT

joh·SY·uh

STRESS ON THE SECOND SYLLABLE

COMMON FORMS
  • Joe
  • Si
CLOSE SPELLINGS
  • Josias
OTHER-LANGUAGE FORMS
  • JosíasES
  • IosiaIT
PRACTICAL LIFE

How This Name Lives

AT SCHOOL & DAY TO DAY

Reads as friendly and a little more distinctive than Joshua for a young child, often shortened informally to "Joe" or "Si."

INTO ADULTHOOD

Carries enough biblical and historical gravity (via the reformer-king story) to read as serious and substantial in adult/professional contexts.

Cultural Footprint

Josiah has become one of the more visible "revival" biblical boy names in 21st-century America, part of a broader trend of parents choosing Old Testament names with a stronger, more "masculine" consonant sound than older standards like Joshua.

TRACEABLE ORIGIN
  1. Josiah, King of Judahbiblical
  2. Josiah Bartlettsigner of the Declaration of Independence
  3. President Josiah 'Jed' BartletThe West Wing, fictional
  4. Josiah WedgwoodEnglish potter and industrialist

Community Impressions

Josiah carries the specific charge of the reformer-king who, while still a young monarch, tore down idols across Judah and reinstated the Passover after the Book of the Law was rediscovered in the Temple — a story of youthful moral seriousness that gives the name real historical gravity. It has surged in US usage since the early 2000s as parents sought a Joshua-adjacent sound with more novelty, so today it reads as familiar-but-fresher rather than a truly rare choice.

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

More about Josiah

FORMALITY

Functions well as a single-register formal name; informal shortenings ("Joe") exist but are less universally used than "Josh" is for Joshua.

Names around it

JoshuaIsaiah
EDITORIAL SYNTHESIS

The Decision

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

STRENGTH

A documented English pronunciation is on file. 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.

Josiah