Explore the Family Name Joss

The meaning of Joss

1. Scottish and German: from an Old French personal name derived from Breton Iodoc, Latinized as Jodocus (see Joyce). 2. English: possibly from a Middle English pet form of Joseph, but this is not confirmed by medieval evidence. Some characteristic forenames: German Erwin, Fritz, Kurt, Otto.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Joss in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Joss has seen a decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Joss ranked 30,229 in terms of popularity and this ranking dropped to 32,632 by 2010, indicating a change of -7.95%. The number of people bearing the surname also declined from 731 in 2000 to 704 in 2010, a change of -3.69%. Consequently, the proportion of people with the surname Joss per 100,000 decreased by -11.11% over the decade.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#30,229	#32,632	-7.95%
Count	731	704	-3.69%
Proportion per 100k	0.27	0.24	-11.11%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Joss

In relation to ethnic identity, the data from the Decennial U.S. Census shows that the majority of those with the surname Joss identify as White, although there was a slight decrease from 97.95% in 2000 to 95.74% in 2010. During the same period, there was a notable emergence of Hispanic and Black ethnic identities among those with the surname Joss, rising from 0% in 2000 to 1.42% and 0.85% respectively in 2010. The representation of those identifying with two or more races also saw a decline from 0.82% to 0.71%. Meanwhile, the Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian and Alaskan Native categories remained constant at 0%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97.95%	95.74%	-2.26%
Hispanic	0%	1.42%	0%
Black	0%	0.85%	0%
Two or More Races	0.82%	0.71%	-13.41%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%