He doesn’t look how I pictured a Joseph

Congratulations, your baby sounds gorgeous!

I don't think of Joseph as suiting any one colouring more than others. It's a timeless, fairly popular name so I've known lots of them, with all kinds of colouring. My "one that got away" boyfriend was a Joseph and he had dark blond/very light brown hair and greeny grey eyes. For what it's worth, one of my DC was born with nearly white hair, the other with quite dark brown, and they've both got almost identical lightish brown hair now (no, Joseph wasn't the father!) You just can't predict what he will look like in a few years. I'd be inclined to stick with the name if you love it, but only you know just how much it's bugging you. Give it a few weeks at least.

It can go both ways (though normally not from a dark toddler/child to a light child, but dark haired babies can have their "new" hair come in blonde).

However, given OP's family colouring, it's super likely he will be darkening up when he heads off to school. Blonde to dark is a far more common progression.

In any case Op, the first few Josephs I knew as a child were all very blonde.

My brothers name is Joseph. It’s timeless stick with it

My Joseph started dark with blue eyes, ended up blonde with brown eyes
my other 2 boys white blonde with blue eyes, one is still white blonde at 21. The other is more golden blonde

all are very lucky to have olive complexions and tan very easily

maybe this isn’t very common

This - one of mine was very bright blond until preschool age, then got gradually darker. Caucasian babies usually have blue eyes at birth, which change gradually at six to twelve months to whatever colour they're going to be (or, of course, might stay blue).

Very few blonde babies remain blonde. My ds was born with blue eyes and blonde hair as was his dad. His eyes turned brown very late. He has blue eyes on all his professional baby photos. He remained blonde throughout primary school and into secondary school.
Now he has very dark brown hair and brown eyes, just like his dad!
I always thought my grandma was wrong when she told me my black haired uncle was born with white blonde hair, but it’s true!
So babies do often change colouring.

My nephew is called Joseph he’s pale skinned and blue eyed and has floppy blond hair. He’s 19, it suits him.

If you love the name he will grow into it.

Your baby will 99.9% be dark haired by about 7. Joseph is a lovely name.

I absolutely love the name but if you want to change it do, don’t be bullied. There is a reason you have time to decide.

If you and DH both have brown hair he will eventually have brown hair too.

Odds are that his eyes wont stay blue either.

If you love the name Joseph then call him Joseph. Do you think a blonde child cant be called Joseph??

Your baby's hair and eyes may change colour significantly as he grows. One of my DDs was born with almost black hair and is now naturally blonde.

I have a Joseph
he has brown eyes and blonde hair
he is now 25 and still the most beautiful person I know
Joseph is my favourite boys name, always will be

We had one name we liked for DS (before he was born) ...but then thought it didnt suit him. It took 4 days, but in the end DH and I each wrote our top 5 names, and then ranked the others choices, and the highest score won!

We chose Joseph for our son and from the moment he was born he was very firmly Joey - id no plan/ intention to shorten but it just happened! Only the Drs receptionist calls him Joseph!!

But Joseph and Joe are beautiful names

Did you have a middle name decided? Would it work to switch them?

Such a gorgeous name. Whatever the colour. Love the name Joe

I knew a very dark Fenella too!

And yes, I agree, children tend to darken not lighten.

FWIW that is exactly how the first Joseph I knew looked!

Many babies have blue eyes that change about the 6 month mark - especially when the parents have dark eyes. And hair very often darkens by the time they start school.

Just change it, op!

This is why we just had a short list. We had a top name, but didn’t finalize anything. When dd was born, I knew within seconds that we needed to go with a particular one of the alternates. I just had to wait until DH and I had a chance to talk to make sure he was on the same page. It turned out he had exactly the same thought in the same moment so it was a short conversation.

My ds was scanned as a dd!! We obviously had to change the chosen name.. His new name means fair haired which indeed he was... Change it op.

When I was having our third baby my eldest daughter loved the name Felicity (I had introduced her to Mallory Towers!), I loved it too, but really loved Fenella, NN Fen. I imagined Felicity as a blond baby and Fenella as a dark brunette (even though Fenella means 'white/fair shouldered). Baby born with whispy light hair, so Felicity it was. She now is as dark as me!!

We really liked the name Ciaran for my second son but it means 'little dark one' so we discounted it as I'm blonde and DH is reddish.
He was born with dark hair brown eyes and olive skin. He's now 5 and it's stayed.
We had discounted Ciaran and totally forgotten it so he has a different name but I often think how well he would have suited Ciaran.
I think stick with Joseph as it suits all colours and complexions.