UNITED TRIBES
When Joseph was born we are told about the reaction of his mother, Rachel. She had spent years hoping to conceive but nothering had happened. meanwuile her sister and her handmai\dens had all ben bearing sons (and at least one daughter) to Jacob her husband. Finally, she became pregnant at first with Joseph and after with Benjamin.
In Hebrew every word is based on a word root which can have numerous connotations.
Let us see what Rachel said when she bore Joseph and what was further implied by her choice of words as recorded by the Bible.
Genesis (ESV) 30:
22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. 23 She conceived and bore a son and said, "God has taken away my reproach." 24 And she called his name Joseph, saying, "May the LORD add to me another son!"
In Hebrew the name Joseph is spelled as "Yo-sef," from the root "ASF" connoting "gather up" or "gather together." The expression in 30:23 above "has taken away" in Hebrew is "ASaF" meaning literally "gathered up." This is related to the name of Joseph.
So to the word "add" in 30:24 above in Hebrew is "Yosef" the same as the name "Yosef." The name Joseph can therefore also connote "gather together" and "add on to."
Rabbi Matityahu Glazerson, "Hebrew. Source of Languages. Enlarged Edition," 2006, p. 11 says:
# Yosef is from the root "ASAF" and it alludes to his destiny which is ASIFAH (gathering) and unifying the Tribes of Israel. #
He quotes as a source the Commentary "Shem MeSmuel," (Genesis, VaYigash) of Rabbi Shmuel Bornsztain (1855 - 1926), also spelled "Borenstein" or "Bernstein," who was the second Rebbe of the Sochatchov Hasidic dynasty in Poland.
We therefore see that the name "Joseph" is associated with Unification of the Tribes.
The main centers of descendants of Joseph in our time are Britain and America. These areas are dominated by Joseph but contain elements from all of the Israelite Tribes as well as many foreigners who have attached themselves to them.
The name "Joseph" in Hebrew connotes "United."
America is known as the UNITED States.
Britain is officially termed the UNITED Kingdom.
Is this a co-incidence?