Given name
Josefine
Josefine is a feminine given name from French Joséphine. It is used in German, Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian.
Meaning & origin
Where it comes from
Josefine comes from French Joséphine, and ultimately from French.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1918. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Josefine through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 707
- 0 boys · 707 girls
- Most popular year
- 2021
- 26 babies
- 2025
- 15
- #7,287 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +1%
- Steady
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 15 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 7,287 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 1.0% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 925 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Josefine’s family of names
In Norwegian Nynorsk usage, Josefine has a short form in Jo. In German usage, Josefine has a related form in Josephine. In German usage, Josefine has a conventional equivalent in the English form Josephine.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Josefine has relatives in 13 languages.
18 related names in 13 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 7
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 3
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 16
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Josefine
- Josefine PreußGerman actressborn 1986
- Josefine Frida PettersenNorwegian actress (born 1996)
- Josefine ÖqvistSwedish association football playerborn 1983
- Josefine SwobodaAustrian portrait painter1861–1924
- Josefine DoraAustrian actress (1867-1944)
- Josefine HasboDanish association football playerborn 2001
- Josefine GallmeyerAustrian stage actor (1838-1884)
- Josefine SundströmSwedish singer and writerborn 1976
- Josefine SafarliGerman chess playerborn 1998
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Josefine, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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