NameYear

Boys' name · peaked in 2002

Jose name popularity since 1925

580,726 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Jose (0.7% girls, 99.3% boys). Half of them were born in 1992 or earlier, so the typical Jose is about 34 years old in 2026. Jose peaked in 2002 as the #30 name for boys, and it ranked #95 in 2025.

US babies since 1925
580,726
Named Jose, 1925–2025
Peak year
2002
#30 for boys that year
Typical age
About 34
Median birth year 1992
In 2025
#95
for boys in 2025 (3,678 babies)
Girls / boys
99.3% boys
4,023 girls · 576,703 boys
Most popular in
Texas
3.62× its national share

Peak year is the year Jose made up the largest share of US boys, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.

Jose births per year, 1925–2025

Babies named Jose per year, 1925–2025

2002 was the biggest year for Jose both by count and as a share of all babies.

  • Steepest fall: Between 2007 and 2012, Jose's share of baby boys fell by 41%, from 1 in 184 to 1 in 314.

Shaded on the chart. This compares Jose's share of all US boys five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Jose.

Decade by decade

Babies named Jose in each decade, and its rank among boys' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).

Decade GirlsBoys Rank
1925–29 1258,021 –
1930s 20912,298 #135
1940s 19316,818 #132
1950s 28831,440 #104
1960s 39842,043 #89
1970s 72466,390 #48
1980s 83986,647 #49
1990s 741119,042 #35
2000s 365115,743 #30
2010s 10255,186 #80
2020–25 3923,075 #95

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 boys that year, so they can go past 1,000.

Generation fingerprint

29.8% of babies named Jose from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Gen Z years (1997–2012). The full split by generation:

Jose by generation Greatest Generation born 1925–27 0.8% Silent Generation born 1928–45 4.2% Baby Boomers born 1946–64 10.4% Gen X born 1965–80 16.9% Millennials born 1981–96 27.9% Gen Z born 1997–2012 29.8% Gen Alpha born 2013–25 10.0%

Where Jose is most popular

The index compares Jose's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Jose.

StateIndexBabies
Texas3.62×165,532
New Mexico3.19×10,298
Arizona2.80×21,167
California2.71×167,136
Nevada1.83×3,815

Names with a similar story

Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Jose's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Jose.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Jose (2002).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data