József
Only about 117 men in Poland carry this Hungarian spelling of Józef, so most Poles will never meet one. The root is Hebrew, "he will add", and no boy has been given it in years.
József Pronunciation
József is pronounced YOOS-sef (/ˈjussɛf/).
What József means
Where József comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
József comes from the Hebrew Yosef, built on a root that means to add. The short meaning riding with it is he will add. The book of Genesis gives the scene: Rachel names her newborn Yosef and asks God to add her another son. From that plea the name grew a fuller reading, God will multiply.
Polish trims the spelling to Józef and hands the feminine form to daughters as Józefa. Both stay close to the Hebrew.
The name has a fixed day. On 19 March the calendar lists imieniny for every Józef, honouring Saint Joseph the carpenter, and a schoolteacher reading the class register still finds the name near the top of the boys. What sits under all of it stays old and plain: Yosef, he will add.
How many people are named József
1 in 182446 men in Poland is named József. 117 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #3126 among male names.
József as a middle name
József is a first name for 117 men in Poland and a middle name for another 35, a 77/23 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 1384th, between Ernestyn (35) and Konstantinos (35).
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#1382 Elwis35
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#1383 Ernestyn35
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#1384 József35
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#1385 Konstantinos35
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#1386 Lutosław35