Joséphine f
French: feminine form of JOSEPH (SEE Joseph), formed with the addition of the productive hypocoristic suffix -ine. The name owes much of its popularity in France to the Empress Joséphine (1763–1814), first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, a charming if somewhat frivolous woman. She presided over a brilliant court until 1809, when Napoleon had the marriage annulled on the grounds that she had not borne him a child. Her original name was Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de la Pagerie; she had been born in Martinique and, before meeting Napoleon, had been married to Alexandre de Beauharnais, an aristocrat who was guillotined in 1794.
First names dictionary. 2012.