ALL ABOUT JOE! - March 27th is National Joe Day

March 27th is considered National Joe Day! From a "cup of Joe", to Sloppy Joes to the Average Joe; from Joe DiMaggio, to Joe Jonas, to Joe Biden, there are a ton of Joes to celebrate! So today we will take a closer look at Joseph, Josephine, Joe and other similar names.

According to Behind the Name, Joseph comes from From Ioseph, the Latin form of the Greek Ιωσηφ (Ioseph), which was from the Hebrew name יוֹסֵף (Yosef) meaning "he will add". Since it his Hebrew in origin, of course it is a biblical name. In the Old Testament, Joseph was the son of Jacob and Rachel.

Joseph is one of those names that translate well across a variety of languages and cultures around the world:

Yousef, Youssef, Yusef, Yusuf (Arabic) Youcef (Arabic (Maghrebi)) Hovsep (Armenian) Yusif (Azerbaijani) Joseba (Basque) Ioseph, Ioses (Biblical Greek) Yosef (Biblical Hebrew) Ioseph (Biblical Latin) Jusuf (Bosnian) Yosif (Bulgarian) Josep (Catalan) Ghjaseppu (Corsican) Josip, Joško, Joso, Jozo (Croatian) Josef (Czech) Josef (Danish) Josephus, Jozef, Jef, Joep, Joop, Joos, Joost, Jos, Sjef, Zef (Dutch) Jozefo, Joĉjo (Esperanto) Joosep (Estonian) Jooseppi, Juuso (Finnish) Xosé (Galician) Ioseb, Soso (Georgian) Iosif (Greek) Yosef (Hebrew) Josephus (History) József, Jóska, Józsi (Hungarian)

Seosamh (Irish) Giuseppe, Beppe, Peppe, Peppi, Peppino, Pino (Italian) Iosephus (Late Roman) Jāzeps (Latvian) Juozapas, Juozas (Lithuanian) Josif (Macedonian) Hohepa (Maori) Josef (Norwegian) Josèp (Occitan) Yousef, Yusef (Persian) Józef (Polish) José, Zé, Zezé (Portuguese) Iosif (Romanian) Iosif, Osip (Russian) Seòsaidh (Scottish) Josif (Serbian) Jozef (Slovak) Josip, Jožef, Jože (Slovene) José, Josepe, Pepe, Pepito (Spanish) Josef (Swedish) Yusuf (Turkish) Ýusup (Turkmen) Yosyp (Ukrainian) Yusup (Uyghur) Yussel (Yiddish)

There is also a handful of feminine forms of the name:

Jody, Josepha (English), Josée, Josèphe, Joséphine (French), Josepha (German)

And you can't forget the diminutives and "nickname" options:

Jo, Joe, Joey, Jojo (English), Jo, Sepp, Seppel (German)

As you can see, the various translations are quite unique and interesting. I'm sure we have all known a Joseph/Joe, but have you ever known anyone with one of these other, more cultural names? 

Now, Nameberry has quite an extensive list of famous Josephs. It is far too long to repost here, but I encourage you to take a look. 

As far as popularity goes, Joseph has always ranked very well. It has never ranked lower than #22, which happened in 2011. It has ranked as high as #5!  It ranked at #20 in 2016 and will probably linger within the Top 100 for a very long time to come.

Just "Joe" by itself even ranks well. Up until 1970, it was within the Top 100 in the US. Even now, as of 2016, Joe still came in at #618.

The lovely Josephine experienced a high popularity peak of 8,682 births in 1918. It declined after that, but is currently ticking upward. In 2016, there were 2,766 girls given the name which ranked it at #114 in the US.

If you're a Joe fan, here are some ideas for sibling names and middle names:

Sibling Name Ideas:
Sisters: Amelia, Caroline, Elizabeth, Isabelle, Lucy, Margaret, Sarah
Brothers: Benjamin, Isaac, Michael, Nathaniel, Simon, Vincent, William

Middle Name Ideas:
Joseph Alexander
Joseph Elliott
Joseph Martin
Joseph Riley
Joseph Thomas

Josephine Amelia
Josephine Claire
Josephine Grace
Josephine May
Josephine Rose

Joe Edward
Joe Harrison
Joe Julius
Joe Theodore
Joe Zachariah

As a Middle Name: 

Adrian Joseph

Carter Joseph

Gabriel Joseph

Maxwell Joseph

Tyler Joseph

Anna Josephine

Clara Josephine

Lily Josephine

Morgan Josephine

Wren Josephine

Benjamin Joe

Everett Joe

Henry Joe

Lincoln Joe

Timothy Joe

What do you think of these Joe names? Which would you choose? Have you already used one?

Rocky

This name comes from our list of names ending with the letters "-ky". If you saw that article, you know that this is a very limited club of names, but there are definitely some cool choices. One of the coolest options from the list is Rocky.

Rocky is given as a full name, but it is also treated as more of a nickname. It could be considered a diminutive of the name Rocco which is a Germanic name from the element hrok which means "rest". Rocco is the patron saint of the sick.

However, as you may know, Rocky is not so much a saint as a famous fictional boxer. The Rocky franchise of movies starring Sylvester Stallone as Rocky began in 1976 and is possibly the most well-known association with this name. Another association comes from the old cartoons "The Bullwinkle Show" and "Rocky and His Friends" both of which aired in the 1960s. These featured a flying squirrel named Rocky and his moose pal experiencing a variety of adventures. Interestingly, Rocky was short for "Rocket", which would definitely be a bold choice for a baby name today.

As a baby name in the US, Rocky appeared on the charts in 1913. In 1942, it entered the Top 1000 chart and had a great year in 1957 with its record-high 911 births for a single year. It had its ups and downs but has mostly remained within the Top 1000 except for the years 1999, 2002, 2004 and 2008-2012. Nowadays, Rocky still lingers in the #900s as a viable option for usage on a modern boy. There have even been a handful of female Rockys, including 6 in 2015, but mostly given between 1949-1984. Do you know anyone named Rocky?

If not, perhaps it would be an appealing choice for your child. If so, here are some ideas for middle names and sibling names for Rocky if you were to use it:

Sibling Name Ideas:
Sisters: Ada, Dolly, Frankie, Laurel, Minnie, Robin, Vona
Brothers: Daryl, Jack, Jett, Lou, Mickey, Russell, Val

Middle Name Ideas:
Rocky Allen
Rocky Carter
Rocky James
Rocky Lucas
Rocky Oliver
Rocky William

As a Middle Name:
Alvin Rocky
Donald Rocky
George Rocky
Laurence Rocky
Max Rocky
Vince Rocky

These may be a bit unconventional and over-the-top, but they work if you strictly remain in the same tough, nicknamey vein as Rocky. What would YOU pair with Rocky?