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Meaning of the nameJosias

Josias is a biblical male name, from the Hebrew Yoshiyahu, which Behind the Name translates as 'Yahweh supports', and which reached Portuguese through the Greek and Latin forms Iosias.

Meaning

“Yahweh supports”

Source: Behind the Name: Josiah · Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Josias

More names that mean God

People (2022)
49,887
Rank in Brazil
#569
Median age
45 years
2010 Census
56,550
people

Josias in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Josias, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1970s (9,216 people).

272 women 49,615 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Josias is most common

States with the highest share of people named Josias in the population, in the 2022 Census.

  1. Pernambuco 0.050%
  2. Pará 0.047%
  3. Amazonas 0.043%
  4. Amapá 0.042%
  5. Espírito Santo 0.040%
All states
StatePeople% of population
São Paulo8,1190.018%
Rio de Janeiro4,7510.030%
Pernambuco4,4800.050%
Pará3,8070.047%
Bahia3,7950.027%
Minas Gerais3,5550.017%
Paraná2,6400.023%
Maranhão1,8890.028%
Amazonas1,7110.043%
Santa Catarina1,5520.020%
Espírito Santo1,5380.040%
Rio Grande do Sul1,5170.014%
Ceará1,5030.017%
Goiás1,1690.017%
Paraíba1,0600.027%
Alagoas1,0090.032%
Mato Grosso9980.027%
Rio Grande do Norte8470.026%
Piauí7720.024%
Mato Grosso do Sul6140.022%
Rondônia6050.038%
Distrito Federal4420.016%
Sergipe3610.016%
Tocantins3550.024%
Amapá3090.042%
Acre2570.031%
Roraima2320.036%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Josias

In the Old Testament, Josias is the name of a king of Judah; Wiktionary gives it as the equivalent of English Josiah and as the Greek New Testament form. Behind the Name joins ʾashya, 'support', and Yah, the name of God, and arrives at 'Yahweh supports'. The Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil (Dictionary of Names in Use in Brazil), citing Machado (1981), gives the Hebrew with the sense 'may God save', through Latin Josias and with a Greek intermediary that explains the final -s. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 49,887 people named Josias, with a median age of 45. The dictionary lists Jozias as a spelling variant.

Sources

  1. Wiktionary: Josias · en.wiktionary.org · origin
  2. Behind the Name: Josiah · behindthename.com · meaning
  3. Behind the Name: Josias · behindthename.com · usage
  4. Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Josias · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · meaning

Questions about the name Josias

What does the name Josias mean?

Josias means “Yahweh supports”, according to Behind the Name and Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil.

How many people are named Josias in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 49,887 people with the first name Josias, which ranks it number 569 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1970s.

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

Josias is a male name: in the 2022 Census, 272 women and 49,615 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Josias?

Josias is a name of Hebrew, Greek and Latin origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Josias most common?

Proportionally, in Pernambuco: 0.050% of the state's population is named Josias (4,480 people), according to the 2022 Census.

Names that also mean God

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More names of Hebrew origin

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Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Josias with a source. See the methodology.