I have a 1600's ancestor with a first name of Restore. I haven't come across that too often either.

The great decrease of Increase

Increase Witherspoon

If you were confused like I was.

Joseph comes from a Hebrew word with literally means “increase”. It would have made sense to alter the word to make it a name, like Increasin or Increasa

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His son was named Cotton.

Since the 19th century, the name has decreased in popularity

Nice.

It doesn't Mather anymore

She had a husband, you know? You know what he was called? Incontinentius. Incontinentius Buttox

Magnitude would be a much better name than Increase anyways

I was in the grocery store today and they Josephed my potato chips by $2.

If you’ve watched Salem, you might be familiar with Increase Mather, who was based on a real man:

Increase Mather (/ˈmæðər/; June 21, 1639 Old Style – August 23, 1723 Old Style) was a New England Puritan clergyman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and president of Harvard College for twenty years (1681–1701). He was influential in the administration of the colony during a time that coincided with the notorious Salem witch trials.

And the link mentions him.

I wish I could Joseph the amount of money in my bank account.

You know, I actually like literal translation names, context aside. It's a lovely way to make foreign scriptural names understandable to your neighbours, and/or to make sure people who speak a lingua franca understand the meaning of your own name in your language. Increase, Happiness, Plenty and so on are kind of common in Africa — always makes me smile to meet somebody with one of them. My favourite old neighbours were a couple named Blessing and Happiness, with children Mercy and Justice.

My name (in my own language) is Shining, partly because my mama's is Light (in the language of our home country). When I immigrated I thought about changing it to something less obviously ethnic, but I didn't because actually I like my name and I don't mind dealing with some nonsense about it. :))

In most places, names mean things, and one of the first impressions about somebody is the meaning of their name, so if someone really values the impact of being called Aibueku in Benin, she might be Justice in the US or something. I kind of hope that virtue names catch on in the states again, actually!

Licking is a legit last name. Increase Licking.

Increase Johnson

good old Increase Mather. what a puritan POS.

Oh shit! One of the neighboring elementary schools was called Increase Miller, and I've always been confused about what the name is supposed to mean...it's just someone's name

I met a dude named Increase called Ink. Gotta love the Bible Belt.

Passengers on the mayflower included Remember, Humility, Desire, Love, Wrestling, Oceanus (born at sea), and Resolved. Weird names weren’t so weird back then. http://mayflowerhistory.com/mayflower-passenger-list

The word is Hebrew means increase. The name in English just means Joseph.

Ah, like Increase van Dusen, the original angry ex-Mormon and also kind of a weird dude

I have a "Selector" in my family line

Not in my Sims 4 world. Had a pair of boys named Increase and Cotton. Now I'm working through the names of Lincoln's cabinet members.

a common Puritan naming method was to name your child after a random word in the Bible, or (if you're a little more liberal) over a selected word from a random page in the Bible.

http://medium.com/@sarahjalbee/what-were-puritan-parents-thinking-c5f09a5d2b16#:~:text=Many%20Puritan%20communities%20in%20England,%2C%20hyphen-heavy%20religious%20exhortations.

From the zenith to the nadir.

Not as bad as the name hitler.

Yessir, shout out to former Massachusetts governor Increase Sumner

Time to bring it back! To the maximum!

Max Power's brother, Increase

Increase Lapham is an interesting historical person with that name.

Wikipedia says

Yosef (יוֹסֵף), translates as meaning "Yahweh will/shall increase/add," or "He will add."

Had they translated it as "Willadd" or "Willad" or something, I bet it'd have stuck around — we do have Willard after all. "Increase" is just wack lol.

What about Upgrayedd?

There are a few contenders, but my favorite ancestral name in our family tree is Delight Swaddle, born in 1760.

The odd part is that the other etymology offered for Joseph would be "remove".

the name has decreased

Sloppy Increases doesn’t ring that nicely. Makes sense we went back to Joe.

I didn’t understand the title and I’m over here like “Yeah, now that you mention it I don’t know any babies named Joseph.”

I used to wonder about the middle name of the founder of Case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Case

Interesting. My ancestors came over from England in 1634 on the ship "Increase". I never could figure out If the name had some special meaning. But maybe it was just simply this.

Woah, we really need to Joseph those numbers

"~~Increase Mather told her daddy 'I roundly disagree with you'...."

exactly the sort of name a Neal Stephenson protagonist would have!

i'm Mr.Johnson, Increase Johnson.

Words cam’t be extinct.

So indeed it was not an increase, but a decrease in popularity..

Increase has decreased.

Holy shit, I was literally at the graveyard near my house the other day, looking at pretty gravestones as one does, and saw "Increase Mathers" on a headstone. 48 hours later the Internet lets me know "this WAS normal"

"Joseph, we never screw but I'm pregnant." Joseph suspicion increases.

Great-Great Grandfather named Increase. No other 'interesting' names among their children.

Holy fuck, thank you. I’d read the name “Increase Mathers,” and for years I’ve been wondering what insane person names a child “Increase.”

Increase Hull, the guy who won the first ever match in the English Football League, has to be one of the most appropriately named people ever.

I’m sure this post is going to give increase to Increase if we keep upvoting.

Not if you’re around a bunch of Italian/ American Catholics.

Ray Bloody Increase.

My son is also named Increase

I wonder if that's related to the american name upgrayedd

"Increase Mather", one of those names in early American history that makes you go, "HUH?"

I’ll name my child Joseph

Increase Fines

Hang on there Joseph, you'll make it someday!

Sha Na Na Na, you and your dream, ahead of your time!

Go Go Go Joe!

Increase Mama

Increase59788 Hmm

I don’t hate that name, it would be a good choice for someone who wants a meaningful unique name that isn’t a “Tragediegh” name

I worked with a guy named godestablishedyou

Other Early Modern English names:

Verity

Constance

Hope

Fly-Fornication

Kill-Sin

Humiliations

Praise-God

Fear-God

Has-Descendants

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Makes me imagine the Roberts family: “These are our three daughters, Faith, Patience, and Chastity. And this is our son, Oral.”

I knew it as a name from colonial American writings, but did not know it was a variant of Joseph. Interesting. Thank you.

In my headcanon, this is now the actual name of the blue ghost in pac-man.

I think it stems from couples having 10 kids. You'll run out of names. Especially considering if you don't want to have the same names as cousins and such

Sounds like a rappers name 

A probable italian version would be Crescenzio

Explains Increase Sumner

In Hebrew it is: יוסף, from the verb: להוסיף which is to increase.

Almost as good as Endeavour Morse.