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Shem Tov · Hebrew names

Boy's nameOrigin: biblicalIn Israel: steady

YehoshuaIn Hebrew: יהושע · meaning, pronunciation and popularity in Israel

With vowel points: יְהוֹשֻׁעַRomanization: y'hoshúa

Yehoshua (Hebrew: יהושע) is a boy's name of biblical origin. 11,693 people born in Israel between 1949 and 2024 have it today, according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). In 2024 it was given to 243 boys and ranked #81. Its peak year was 2024, with 243 babies.

People in Israel
11,693
born 1949–2024
Babies in 2024
243
rank #81
Peak year
2024
243 babies
USA, 2025
92
rank #1,753

Writing and saying Yehoshua

In Hebrew letters the name is יהושע, read right to left. Yehoshua is the Latin spelling recorded by our review; families choose their own spelling in passports, so you may also meet other forms. Wiktionary romanizes it as "y'hoshúa" (the accent marks the stressed syllable).

Meaning and origin

  • a male given name, equivalent to English Joshua
  • a male given name, equivalent to English Joshua
  • Joshua (the son of Nun, Judge of Israel following Moses; author of the Book of Joshua; Quranic figure)
Perhaps from הוֹשֵׁעַ (hoshéa, hōšḗaʿ, “Hosea”) with the "addition" of יהוה (“YHWH (Yahweh)”), therefore meaning "Yahweh is salvation". See הוֹשִׁיעַ (hoshía, “to save”). Compare with יְשַׁעְיָהוּ (y'shayáhu, yəšaʿyā́hū).

Quoted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), unchanged.

Yehoshua by year: Israel and abroad

How many boys out of every 10,000 born each year have the name. For Israel it counts the people born that year who carry the name today (the CBS counts residents by year of birth, not birth registrations).

Yehoshua: rate per 10,000, 1950–2025

per 10,000 babies of the same sex

Yehoshua in English-speaking countries

Yehoshua in each official list: latest year, count, rank and peak
Country / regionYearBabiesRankPeak
United States202592#1,7532019 (95)
United Kingdom20258#2,7422025 (8)
England and Wales20258#2,6582025 (8)

Counts for boys. The Hebrew page for Yehoshua has every year and the other spellings.

Related Israeli names

Spelling variants and names that look or sound close in Hebrew.

Questions about Yehoshua

How do you write Yehoshua in Hebrew?

Yehoshua is written יהושע in Hebrew (with vowel points: יְהוֹשֻׁעַ). Hebrew is read right to left. A dictionary romanization is "y'hoshúa".

How many people in Israel are named Yehoshua?

11,693 people born between 1949 and 2024 carry the name יהושע: 0 women and 11,693 men. The count comes from the CBS table of current first names by year of birth; years with fewer than 5 people are not published.

Is Yehoshua a boy's or a girl's name?

In Israel it is almost always a boy's name: 100.0% of the people named יהושע are men.

What does the name Yehoshua mean?

English Wiktionary describes it as: "a male given name, equivalent to English Joshua" Etymology: Perhaps from הוֹשֵׁעַ (hoshéa, hōšḗaʿ, “Hosea”) with the "addition" of יהוה (“YHWH (Yahweh)”), therefore meaning "Yahweh is salvation". See הוֹשִׁיעַ (hoshía, “to save”). Compare with יְשַׁעְיָהוּ (y'shayáhu, yəšaʿyā́hū).

Is Yehoshua used outside Israel?

The name Yehoshua appears in the official baby name lists of English-speaking countries. In the United States 92 boys were given it in 2025 (#1,753), per the Social Security Administration. In the UK 8 in 2025 (ONS, NRS and NISRA combined).

Sources

Israel: Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), current first names of people born 1949–2024 by sex, population group and year of birth, processed 2026-09-27. CBS publications.

Abroad

Counts are copied as published. We only merged accented spellings (Zoë = Zoe) and computed ranks and rates. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia and the Open Government Licence – Alberta.