Nicknames for Yusuf
27 ideas for Yusuf — the short forms people actually use, plus cute, funny and gamer versions. Copy any of them in one click.
- Yus the everyday clip
- Yusi the softened affectionate form
- Yuso the -o affectionate ending
- Youssef the Egyptian and Levantine spelling
- Yousef the Gulf spelling
- Yousuf the Urdu spelling
- Yusof the Malay form
- Yosef the Hebrew original
- Yossi the Israeli affectionate form
- Joseph the English form of the same name
- José the Spanish form
- Giuseppe the Italian form
- Yusufu the Swahili and Hausa form
- Youssy the Egyptian anglicised form
- Joe the English clip used abroad
- Yusuf-bhai bhai, used in South Asian families
- Abu Yusuf the kunya pattern, father of Yusuf
- Yus-Yus doubled, family and childhood use
- Y initial only, in group chats
- Yus-Bear the affectionate compound used abroad
- Yousso the West African affectionate form
- God Increases what the Hebrew Yosef means
- Technicolor the musical joke, for theatre people
- Cat Stevens the Yusuf Islam joke, made once
- Yusuf-beta beta, used in South Asian families
- Yusu Yusuf, cut where people naturally stop saying it.
- Yu-yu The opening sound of Yusuf, doubled.
About the name Yusuf.
Yusuf is the Qur'anic form of the Hebrew Yosef, and the twelfth sura of the Qur'an is named after him: the brothers, the well, the coat and the interpretation of dreams, told there as the most beautiful of stories. The underlying Hebrew means he will add, or God shall increase, a reference to Rachel asking for another son. Say it YOO-suf, stress on the first syllable, second vowel short. The name is used from Morocco to Indonesia with a slightly different vowel in each country, and it is one of the clearest cases of a single figure linking Jewish, Christian and Muslim naming traditions without any of the three borrowing from the others in recent centuries.
Gentle for a name of its length, with two soft consonants and no hard stop anywhere. It reads devout without reading severe, which is a narrow line to walk. Yus is the usual British clip; Yuso is the Turkish-influenced form and tends to stay inside the family.
Most popular around 2020. Based on US birth records.
- Origin
- Arabic, from Hebrew
- Meaning
- he will add, God shall increase
- Syllables
- Yu·suf
- Used as
- a boys’ name
Yusuf around the world.
These are the real forms Yusuf takes in other languages, which often make excellent nicknames in their own right.
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Youssef
Arabic
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Yosef
Hebrew
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Joseph
English
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Yousuf
Urdu
-
Yusof
Malay
Famous people called Yusuf.
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Yusuf Islam
British musician formerly known as Cat Stevens
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Youssef Chahine
Egyptian film director
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Yusuf Pathan
Indian all-rounder in cricket
Questions about the name Yusuf
What does Yusuf mean? +
He will add, or God shall increase, carried over from Hebrew Yosef. Genesis attaches the meaning to Rachel's hope for a second son. Arabic borrowed the name whole rather than translating it, so the meaning is not visible from the Arabic itself.
Is Yusuf the same as Joseph? +
The same figure and the same original name by different routes. Hebrew Yosef became Greek Ioseph, then Latin and English Joseph; Arabic took it directly as Yusuf. The Qur'anic and Genesis accounts differ in detail but are recognisably one story.
How is it spelled elsewhere? +
Youssef in Egypt and Lebanon, Yousuf and Yusaf in Pakistan, Yusof in Malaysia and Indonesia, Yosef in Hebrew. Turkish keeps Yusuf unchanged, which makes it one of the more stable transliterations of any Arabic name.
What nicknames exist? +
Yus is the common English clip and Yusi the affectionate one. Turkish families use Yuso. Where the name is very common, households distinguish bearers by a second name rather than by inventing short forms, which keeps the nickname inventory small.