Joseph

Commonly explained as “he will add” or “God will add.”

Joseph is a widely recognized masculine given name with Hebrew roots, used across many languages and cultures. It remains common in modern naming partly because it’s anchored in long-standing textual traditions and also because it has simple, stable spelling in English. Etymologically, Joseph comes from the Hebrew Yosef and is commonly explained with a sense like “he will add” or “(God) will add/increase.” The cultural and religious context is central: the biblical Joseph is a prominent figure in Jewish and Christian scriptures, and Islamic tradition recognizes the closely related form Yusuf. In multilingual settings you may see different conventional spellings (Joseph, Josef) or different script renderings, reflecting local usage rather than a different core identity. In English, pronunciation is usually JOH-sif with two syllables. Because the name appears in many languages, you’ll also hear distinct local pronunciations (for example, zho-ZEF in French), so matching the community’s norm or the person’s preference is a good practical approach.

Etymology: From the Hebrew name Yosef. The name is widely used across Jewish and Christian traditions (biblical Joseph) and is also associated with the figure Yusuf in Islamic tradition, which is a closely related form in Arabic usage.