Oooh, I like it! And yes,
Joe can absolutely work as a nickname, including
Joey. I named one of my major characters '
Jonah' and he sometimes goes by
Joey.
Jon could also be a nn, just by look but I'm not sure if whether or not that is a stretch.
When I was in the 6th grade,
Jonah was the name of one of my classmates and I can vividly recall having a major crush on him. Haha :P of course as I got older I realized how much of a jerk he was and that we just would not have lasted long in a relationship together. I eventually got over him and developed another crush somewhere down the line.
Joseph is a great name. However, you don't hear
Jonah nearly as often. It seems more fresh than the great but overused
Joseph.