Josie

Originated as an English pet form of Josephine, which traces back to the Hebrew Yosef, meaning 'he will add.' American parents began recording it as an independent given name in the late nineteenth century. It functioned as an unpretentious standalone name on frontier birth rolls and has remained on federal registers continuously since 1880.

A Josie sounds like someone carrying an acoustic guitar case across a college lawn. The name spent decades sounding like a great-aunt before staging a sharp comeback among millennial parents. Nearly three-quarters of all living bearers belong to Generation Z or Generation Alpha. It suggests an easygoing demeanor and someone who signs notes with a first initial.