Joseph named his second son Ephraim, from the Hebrew root meaning to be fruitful, to increase. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 41:52 preserves Joseph's explanation with a remarkable extension: "The Lord hath made me mighty in the land of my affliction, as he will make the house of my father mighty here in their afflictions."
A prophecy hidden in a baby's name
The Torah's original Hebrew says only that Joseph praised God for making him fruitful in the land of his affliction. The Aramaic paraphrase, which reached its final form in the Land of Israel around the seventh or eighth century CE, reads into the name a second promise: whatever God has done for me in Egypt, He will do for my father's house when they, too, come to Egypt. Ephraim's name is not just a thanksgiving for Joseph's rise — it is a forecast of the family's descent into Egypt, their growth there, and eventually the Exodus itself.
Affliction as soil
The word the Targum uses — "afflictions" — is not softened. Egypt will be a place of suffering for the Hebrews. But Joseph, who has himself been afflicted and then made mighty, reads the same trajectory into the family's future. The name becomes a pattern: affliction is the ground in which the people will grow.
The takeaway
Joseph names his son for what God has done and what God will do. Ephraim is a promise: the same hand that lifted me will lift you.