Joshua

Joshua meaning

Joshua is a Christian and international boy's name of Hebrew origin.

Jehovah-saved; from the divine name and yasha, to save

Joshua comes from the Hebrew Yehoshuaʿ (יְהוֹשׁוּעַ), which Strong's builds from the divine name and yashaʿ, 'to save or deliver', glossing it 'Jehovah-saved'. The NAS concordance reads 'the LORD is salvation', and Brown-Driver-Briggs notes that, whatever its first sense, the name came to be associated with the root for saving. Name lists give 'God is salvation', which agrees. Its great bearer is Joshua, son of Nun, Moses' successor, who led Israel into Canaan; according to Numbers 13:16 Moses changed his name from Hoshea. The Greek Iēsous, the name Jesus, renders the same Hebrew name, so Joshua and Jesus are at root one name.

Source: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, H3091 · entry Yehowshuwa · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026

References: Strong's Hebrew 3091, Yehowshuwa (with NAS and Brown-Driver-Briggs) · Strong's Greek 2424, Iēsous

Famous namesakes

• Joshua, son of Nun, Moses' successor

Popularity abroad

• #66 United States, boys 2025 (down 9 from 57 in 2024)
  US Social Security Administration
• #53 England and Wales, boys 2025
  Office for National Statistics

Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.

Related names

Also meaning god

Also starting with Jos-

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