Joseph

יוֹסֵף

• Gender: Male
• Origin: Biblical English
• Meaning: he will add

• Joseph is one of the great epic heroes of the Torah — the dreamer who was sold into slavery by his brothers only to rise as Pharaoh's most trusted advisor and ultimately save his entire family from famine. It is a story of resilience, forgiveness, and extraordinary intellect, and the name has carried that weight beautifully for thousands of years. Few names in any tradition can match its combination of depth and accessibility.

  Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is proudly Ashkenazi Jewish and whose parents co-founded the Progressive Jewish Alliance, has carried this classic name from 3rd Rock from the Sun to Inception. Here is a name that never feels trendy because it has never gone out of style. It offers an incredible range of nicknames — from Joe to Joey to Yossi — letting a child choose their own identity as they grow. A name that works equally well on a Supreme Court justice and a kindergartner, Joseph is the gold standard of Jewish classics.

• Alternate Spellings: Josef
• Hebrew Equivalent:
  Yosef
• Potential Sibling Name:
  Abigail
  ,
  Rebecca
  ,
  Michael
  ,
  Daniel
• Theme: positive qualities