Josephine

Where Josephine comes from

From French Joséphine, diminutive of Josèphe, feminine form of Joseph. By surface analysis, Joseph + -ine. Popularized in English by Josephine Bonaparte, the empress of Napoleonic France.
— Wiktionary's entry for Josephine
  • French
  • 3 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1877
    Josephine Hull born
    American stage and film actress
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #50 among girls — 544 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1906
    Josephine Baker born
    American-born French dancer, singer and actress
  4. 1917
    Peak, #21
    8,326 babies named Josephine — more than any year before or since.
  5. 2025
    The comeback
    Back to #53 after sinking to #497 in 1987.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from French.
Namesakes
  • Josephine Baker · American-born French dancer, singer and actress, 1906–1975
  • Josephine Hull · American stage and film actress, 1877–1957
  • Josephine Bakhita · Sudanese saint and former slave, 1868–1947
  • Josephine Butler · British feminist and social reformer fighting to end child prostitution, 1828–1906
  • Josephine of Leuchtenberg · Queen of Sweden and Norway from 1844 to 1859, 1807–1876

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.