Hi Jennifer

I’m a horse rider, and at a stable yard where I work, I met a stallion by the name of Joepie. I’ve been trying to find the meaning joepieof his name ever since. He was born in the Netherlands, and I assume it is a Dutch name. We pronounce it “Yoo-pey”. Any ideas?

Thank you!
Firn H.
(yes, I do have to spell my name to everyone)

Dear Firn,

Joep is the Dutch diminutive (nickname) for the formal name, Jozef. As you can surmise, Jozef is the Slavic/Dutch form of the name Joseph, which means “God Will Increase.” So Joepie would be equivalent to the English nickname Joey.

Sincerely,
Jennifer

Jennifer Moss (she/her) is the founder of BabyNames.com, author of The Baby Names Workbook, and Producer of The Baby Names Podcast. Jennifer is widely regarded as the leading expert on popular baby name trends and the naming process, serving as the authoritative source on the subject for national and international media.

Jennifer entered the tech arena in the 80s as a software developer and database architect, and became a pioneer in the Internet industry. In addition to operating BabyNames.com, Jennifer owns a web development agency in central California.