Joe delights me! It is the friendliest nn imaginable, though that might have something to do with happy childhood memories of an uncle,
Joseph nn
Joe, who died too young.
Joseph is a bit heavy and also biblical - Uncle
Joe was a Catholic - but as you say, most
Joseph people end up as
Joe. Equally biblical, but a name I far prefer to
Joseph, is
Joel; it would have been my choice if I were naming a son, except for the family link to
Joseph.