Yousef

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Yusuf in TR Türkiye, US United States, DZ Algeria and 10 more, Юсуф in RU Russia, KZ Kazakhstan, TJ Tajikistan and 3 more, Yusof in MY Malaysia and ยูโซ๊ะ in TH Thailand.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 25 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Yousef is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• French given name9.9K records spelled Yousef27 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Spain, United States, Belgium

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Youséf, Ÿóùšęf, Ýőűšēf, Yôůšêf, Ÿóúšéf

• Danish given name6.1K records spelled Yousef8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, United States

  Languages: Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Swedish

  Also written Yôuṣëf, Youséf, YoùSéf

• Italian given name1.2K records spelled Yousef2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom

  Also written Ÿôusef

• Japanese given name461 records spelled Yousef4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Japan, India, Syria

  Also written Ÿõüsèf, Yôùŝëf, Ÿöüsëf

54 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Yousef is also recorded in one other lexicon, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Swedish, Yousef (m.fl. former) är arabiska former av → Josef.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 52 years between 1970–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Youssef ibn Tashfinb. 1009MAnot in their usual nameleader of the Almoravid dynasty (r. 1061–1106), founder of Marrakech and a key figure in consolidating power in southern Morocco before expanding into Al-Andalus
• Al-Mustanjidb. 1124IQnot in their usual namethe Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 1160 to 1170
• Baha ad-Din Shoiebb. 1145IQnot in their usual nameKurdish historian and scholar, biographer of Saladin (1145–1234)
• Yusof bin Ishakb. 1910SGnot in their usual name1st President of Singapore (1910–1970)
• Yusuf Luleb. 1912UGnot in their usual namefourth president of Uganda (1912–1985)
• Yousaf Raza Gillanib. 1952PKnot in their usual namePrime Minister of Pakistan from 2008 to 2012
• Yusuf Dikeçb. 1973TRnot in their usual nameTurkish sport shooter (born 1973)
• Yousef Sweidb. 1976ILArab-Israeli actor of Palestinian descent
• Yusuf Yazıcıb. 1997TRnot in their usual nameTurkish association football player (born 1997)
• YusufEGnot in their usual nameprophet and son of Jacob in Islam

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 499 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Yousef?

We estimate roughly 2.5 million people bear Yousef (counting its spellings and scripts) across 7 countries in our records.

In which country does Yousef have the most bearers?

We estimate about 1.6 million people bear Yousef in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled yusuf.

How common is Yousef compared with other names?

In Türkiye, Yousef is the 15th most common given name of 294,597 given names recorded there.

Is Yousef a male or female name?

Yousef is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Yousef mean?

Recorded meaning: From the Arabic male personal name Yusuf, the prophet Joseph.