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Home / Name Guide / Yusuf
Arabic, Turkish, Malay, Urdu

Yusuf

The closest spelling to the Arabic original.

Meaning

Yusuf is the most direct transliteration of Arabic Yūsuf (يوسف). Modern Turkish spells it exactly this way, as do Malay and Indonesian, which makes it one of the most widely used Latin spellings of the name on Earth.

In the Quran

The twelfth chapter of the Quran, Surah Yusuf, is devoted almost entirely to Joseph's story, from his childhood dream of eleven stars, the sun and the moon bowing to him, to his reunion with his father. The chapter calls it one of the best of stories. It is unusual among Quranic chapters for telling one narrative nearly start to finish.

Where you'll find it

Yusuf is common in Türkiye, across Central Asia, East Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia and South Asia. It has also become a familiar name in the UK and North America.

Yusuf in pop culture

The best-known Yusuf in Western music is the singer-songwriter born Steven Georgiou, known for decades as Cat Stevens, who took the name Yusuf in 1977 and today records as Yusuf / Cat Stevens.

Fun factTurkish has no silent letters, so a Yusuf in Istanbul is never asked how to spell it. Only how many Yusufs are in the room.
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