Josh

Hebrew

"the Lord is my salvation"

Josh Origin and Meaning

The name Josh is a boy's name.

Josh is a friendly, approachable masculine name that originated as a shortened form of Joshua, which comes from Hebrew meaning 'God is salvation.' While Joshua has biblical significance as the successor to Moses, Josh emerged as a standalone name in the 20th century, embodying a casual, down-to-earth quality. It gained significant popularity in the 1970s through the 1990s in the United States, ranking consistently in the top 100 names. Josh conveys an accessible, unpretentious character with its brief, one-syllable structure. The name suggests a straightforward, trustworthy personality and has maintained steady usage without seeming dated or trendy. Josh represents a perfect balance of familiarity and timelessness in contemporary naming practices.

Josh Rank in US Top 1000

# 971 in the US

Popularity of the name Josh

• 1813 Nameberry 2025
• 798 Unique 2023
• 801 England 2023
• 189 Scotland 2023
• 96 Ireland 2019

20 Names Similar to Josh

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Josh.

• Sammy
• Zach
• Johnny
• Matt
• Don
• Junior
• Gary
• Randy
• Dan
• Joe
• Mike
• Mickey
• Richie
• Mario
• Jefferson
• Sheldon
• Tim
• Jackie
• Harrington
• Kenny

Famous People Named Josh

• Josh Devine drummer for One Direction
• Josh McClorey Irish guitarist
• Joshua Ilan "Josh" Gad American actor and singer
• Joshua Lee "Josh" Holloway American actor
• Joshua Aaron "Josh" Charles American actor
• Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban American singer
• Joshua David "Josh" Duhamel American actor
• Joshua Ryan "Josh" Hutcherson American actor
• Josh Brolin American actor
• Joshua Ryan "Josh" Zuckerman American actor
• Joshua Baret "Josh" Henderson American actor and singer
• Joshua Daniel "Josh" Hartnett American actor
• Joshua Michael "Josh" Homme III American singer
• Josh Freese American drummer
• Joshua Michael "Josh" Peck American actor
• Joshua Patrick "Josh" Beckett American baseball pitcher
• Joslin "Josh" McDowell Christian apologist, evangelist, & writer
• Josh Kalis American pro skateboarder
• Josh McDermitt American actor
• Josh Gray member of Irish boyband HomeTown
• Joshua James "Josh" Duggar 1st child of the reality TV show 19 Kids and Counting's Duggar family
• Josh Martin real of name of musician Daughn Gibson
• Josh Brener American actor
• Josh Parker (b. 2014) son of French professional basketball player Tony Parker
• Joshua William "Josh" Dun drummer for Twenty One Pilots
• Joshua 'Josh' Bradley YouTube personality known as Zerkaa

The name Josh in Pop Culture

• Josh main character in novelette "The Post,it Note Affair" by author Justine Avery
• Josh Nichols main character on TV's "Drake & Josh," played by Josh Peck
• Josh Goldberg character in "Does My Head Look Big in This?" by Randa Abdel,Fattah
• Josh Davenport character on TV's "American Gothic"
• Josh Plowman main character in novel "Josh" by Ivan Southall
• Joshua "Josh " main character in short story "Nerdified" of "Nerds Rule the School" series by author Tina Tirrell
• Josh Spitz character on animated series "Braceface"
• Josh Levison character on TV's "Being Human"
• Josh Chan a lead character on TV's "Crazy Ex,Girlfriend"
• Josh Baskin lead character in film "Big"
• Josh Kaminski a main character on TV's "Young & Hungry"
• Josh Rosza a character on TV's "The Originals"
• Josh Lucas character in the 1995 movie "Clueless"