Meaning
José is the Spanish and Portuguese form of Joseph. Spanish turned the Latin Ioseph into José, with the stress on the last syllable.
Everywhere at once
José is one of the most common male names across Spain, Portugal, Latin America and the Philippines. It is often paired, as in José María, José Luis or José Antonio, sometimes to honour both Joseph and Mary.
Pepe and friends
The famous Spanish nickname for José is Pepe. A popular folk story says it comes from P.P., short for Pater Putativus, Joseph's title as the presumed father of Jesus. Linguists mostly doubt it. We find it too charming to give up. Other nicknames: Chepe in Central America, Zé in Portugal and Brazil.
Cousins
Josep is the Catalan form, Xosé the Galician, and Joseba the Basque. One name, one peninsula, four spellings.
Fun factZé, the Portuguese nickname, is one letter long plus an accent. The most efficient Yousef in history.