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Hosea

Hosea is a Hebrew name meaning "salvation" or "he saves."

Ranked #2154 in the 2025 SSA records, peaked at #360 in 1885, stable over the past 5 years.

Hosea was the eighth-century BC prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel whose marriage to Gomer became a lived parable of God's covenant relationship with unfaithful Israel.

Browse namesRead Hosea's story
OriginHebrew
GenderBoy
FeelBiblical
Pronunciationhoh-ZAY-uh

Is Hosea biblical?

Yes

Biblical status Direct biblical person

Hosea is a named person in Scripture, the eighth-century BC prophet of the northern kingdom and author of the book of Hosea.

Is Hosea a Christian name?

Used by Christians, not distinctively

Christian tradition Christian cultural usage

Hosea is used mainly in African American Christian naming and traditional Protestant families with Hebrew Bible registers, without a strong saint or liturgical heritage in the record.

Plain answer

Hosea is a biblical name from the Old Testament prophet, used in niche Protestant and African American Christian naming rather than through broad church tradition.

Confidence Moderate Last reviewed July 19, 2026 How this works

Meaning

The meaning of Hosea

Hosea comes from the Hebrew Hoshea, from the root yasha meaning "to save" or "salvation." The name shares its root with Joshua (Yehoshua, "Yahweh saves") and Jesus (Yeshua, the Aramaic form of the same name). Hosea is the shortest form of this Hebrew salvation-verb naming pattern; the fuller theophoric forms add the divine name to make the salvation claim explicit. The Septuagint transliterates the name as Hōsēe, giving the Latin Vulgate its Osee spelling.

Prophet name

Why Hosea became a Christian name

Hosea's marriage-as-covenant-metaphor makes his prophetic book one of the most theologically distinctive in the Old Testament. The book asks Israel to see herself in Gomer's infidelity and God as the husband who continues to buy her back even when she leaves.

The name has carried the salvation-verb Hebrew register into Christian naming across centuries, though rarely in high modern usage. Hosea 6:6 and 11:1 are among the most-quoted Old Testament passages in the New Testament gospels, making Hosea's prophetic voice active in the theological memory of both traditions.

Sound

How to pronounce Hosea

Phonetic
hoh-ZAY-uh
IPA
/hoʊˈzeɪə/

3 syllables · stress: hoh-ZAY-uh · ends in a vowel

Forms

Variants and nicknames

Alternate spellings

  • Hoshea
  • Osee

Short forms and nicknames

  • Zea

Languages

Hosea in other languages

Hebrew
הוֹשֵׁעַHosheaThe original Hebrew form, from the root yasha meaning "to save" or "salvation."
Greek
ὩσηέHōsēe
Latin
Osee
Spanish
Oseas

Christian background

Christian and biblical background

Hosea prophesied to the northern kingdom of Israel in the eighth century BC, during the reigns of Jeroboam II through the fall of Samaria to Assyria in 722 BC. His marriage to Gomer, described in Hosea 1-3 as a woman of harlotry, became a lived parable of God's covenant relationship with unfaithful Israel. Hosea 6:6 ("I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings") became one of the most-cited Old Testament passages in Jesus's teaching, quoted in Matthew 9:13 and 12:7. Hosea 11:1 ("When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt") is applied by Matthew to Jesus's childhood return from Egypt (Matthew 2:15). For more on prophet names in the Bible and the prophetic tradition, see Biblical prophet names.

Bearers

Notable people named Hosea

  • biblical

    Hosea the prophetEighth-century BC northern-kingdom prophet, author of the Book of Hosea, active during the reigns of Jeroboam II through the fall of Samaria in 722 BC

  • historical

    Hosea WilliamsAmerican civil rights leader, aide to Martin Luther King Jr., organizer of the Selma march in 1965, 1926 to 2000

Naming history

Naming tradition and history

Hosea has appeared in the US SSA records every year since 1880 but has sat mostly outside the Top 1000 through the twentieth century. The name reached its highest historical position at #360 in 1885, an early SSA-era peak reflecting the broader nineteenth-century biblical-name usage. Hosea currently sits at #2154 in the 2025 SSA data, deep in the SSA long tail but with steady presence in African American Christian naming and in traditional Protestant families with Hebrew Bible naming registers.

Recent US use

Hosea in recent US use

Rank in 2025
#2154
Peak rank
#360 in 1885
Recent trend
stable over the last 5 years
Years in the SSA records
146 (since 1880)

Source: US Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880-2025.

Sibling fit

Sibling name suggestions

For families

For families looking at Hosea

For a Christian family, Hosea names the eighth-century northern prophet whose marriage became a covenant metaphor and whose "mercy over sacrifice" line was quoted by Jesus. Ranked #2154 in US baby names in 2025, deep in the SSA long tail but with steady niche use.

Common questions

What does Hosea mean?

Hosea is a Hebrew name meaning "salvation" or "he saves." The root is the verb yasha, the same root as Joshua and Jesus.

Is Hosea a biblical name?

Yes. Hosea was the eighth-century BC prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel, author of the Book of Hosea, active during the reigns of Jeroboam II through the fall of Samaria in 722 BC.

What is Hosea best known for?

Hosea is best known for his marriage to Gomer as a lived covenant metaphor (Hosea 1-3) and for the line "I desired mercy, and not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6), which Jesus quotes in Matthew 9:13 and 12:7.

How popular is the name Hosea?

Hosea ranked #2154 in US baby names in 2025, deep in the SSA long tail. The name peaked at #360 in 1885 during the nineteenth-century biblical-name era.

Sources

Sources for Hosea

  • A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Brown, Driver, and BriggsSupports: Hebrew etymology; meaning 'salvation' from root yasha.
  • The Book of Hosea, King James Version (KJV 1769)Supports: biblical prophet; 'mercy not sacrifice' in Hosea 6:6.
  • National baby names data, US Social Security Administration (2025 release)Supports: US popularity.

Last reviewed July 19, 2026. See our methodology, or report an error on the corrections page.

Read next

Related names

JoshuaBoth names share the Hebrew root yasha meaning "to save." Hoshea is the shortest form; Yehoshua ("Yahweh saves") is the fuller form that became Joshua in English and Jesus through the Greek Yeshua.MicahBoth are eighth-century BC minor prophets, contemporaries in the broader prophetic era. Hosea in the northern kingdom of Israel; Micah in the southern kingdom of Judah.IsaiahSame eighth-century BC prophetic era. Isaiah in the southern kingdom of Judah; Hosea in the northern kingdom of Israel. Both address covenant infidelity and messianic promise.EzraBoth are Old Testament prophets whose covenant-restoration themes shape post-exilic Jewish reforms. Ezra's post-exilic teaching draws on Hosea's earlier covenant framework.MalachiBoth are Old Testament prophets whose books address covenant infidelity. Malachi closes the Old Testament canon with themes that echo Hosea's much earlier work.AmosBoth are 8th-century BC minor prophets and near-contemporaries in the northern kingdom of Israel. Amos preceded Hosea by a few decades; both addressed covenant infidelity, though Amos emphasized social justice while Hosea used the marriage metaphor of Hosea 1-3.