Yusuf
A Muslim given name turned surname, ultimately meaning “Joseph.”
The #8,280 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 77,129 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Yusuf is the Arabic form of the biblical and Qur’anic name Joseph, ultimately from Hebrew Yosef, meaning “may he add” or “God adds.” As a surname, it usually began as a patronymic or family-name marker taken from an ancestor’s personal name. In many Muslim communities, it spread as a hereditary surname from a respected forebear named Yusuf.
History
The name is widely used across the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, where it functions both as a common given name and, later, a surname. In English-language records it may reflect immigration, colonial-era recordkeeping, or the adoption of fixed family names from earlier patronymic naming practices. It is especially common in Muslim families, though not exclusively so.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Yusuf is the Arabic title of the biblical Joseph, whose story is told in the Qur’an in Surah 12, “Yusuf.”