Josef
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English Joseph.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Josef (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Josef has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2018. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Boys |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 94 |
| 1999 | 92 |
| 2000 | 107 |
| 2001 | 93 |
| 2002 | 97 |
| 2003 | 131 |
| 2004 | 123 |
| 2005 | 143 |
| 2006 | 110 |
| 2007 | 124 |
| 2008 | 122 |
| 2009 | 142 |
| 2010 | 136 |
| 2011 | 113 |
| 2012 | 99 |
| 2013 | 117 |
| 2014 | 128 |
| 2015 | 113 |
| 2016 | 131 |
| 2017 | 121 |
| 2018 | 144 |
| 2019 | 128 |
| 2020 | 134 |
| 2021 | 114 |
| 2022 | 104 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 3,592 |
| 2000 | 3,638 |
| 2001 | 3,682 |
| 2002 | 3,717 |
| 2003 | 3,804 |
| 2004 | 3,870 |
| 2005 | 3,932 |
| 2006 | 4,029 |
| 2007 | 4,122 |
| 2008 | 4,238 |
| 2009 | 4,340 |
| 2010 | 4,442 |
| 2011 | 4,527 |
| 2012 | 4,597 |
| 2013 | 4,688 |
| 2014 | 4,783 |
| 2015 | 4,879 |
| 2016 | 4,999 |
| 2017 | 5,104 |
| 2018 | 5,238 |
| 2019 | 5,380 |
| 2020 | 5,476 |
Josef in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Josef.Hi! My name is Josef.
- Josef har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Josef has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Josefs mamma är lärare.Josef's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Josefs mamma is Josef's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Josef
How do you pronounce Josef in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Josef in your device's Swedish voice. J is said like the English y.
What does the name Josef mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English Joseph.
How popular is Josef in Sweden?
104 babies were named Josef in 2022. In 2020, 5,476 people in Sweden had Josef as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2018 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.