Joshua (name)

Joshua is a given name derived from the Hebrew יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎‎ (Modern: Yəhōšūaʿ, Tiberian: Yŏhōšūaʿ), prominently belonging to Joshua, an early Hebrew leader of the Exodus period who has a major role in several books of the Bible. In later periods, a common alternative form of the name was Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ‎, Yēšūaʿ‍) which corresponds to the Greek spelling Ἰησοῦς (Iesous), from which, through the Latin Iesus, comes the English spelling Jesus. As a result of the origin of the name, a majority of people before the 17th century who have this name were Jewish. A variant, truncated form of the name, Josh, gained popularity in the United States in the 1920s.