Meaning
Hovsep (Յովսէփ) is the Armenian form of Joseph. It comes from the Bible translated into Armenian in the 5th century.
A family-name factory
Armenian surnames often end in -ian, meaning "son of." So Hovsepian means "son of Joseph," a surname found across the Armenian diaspora.
Art world
Hovsep Pushman, born in 1877, became known in the United States for richly coloured still-life paintings.
The photography connection
The most famous Armenian in the Yousef family, though, used the Arabic-derived spelling: portraitist Yousuf Karsh, born in 1908 in Mardin to an Armenian family, who took one of the most famous photographs ever made.
Fun factHovsepian is the only Yousef variant that comes with its own built-in family tree.