I guess the answer is yes he may well have been known as Joe

Name: Frederick George Malsom
Year of Registration: 1897
Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
District: Ross
County: Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Hereford and Worcester
Volume: 6a
Page: 463

Name: Frderick G Malson
Death Registration Month/Year: 1961
Age at death (estimated): 63
Registration district: Forest of Dean
Inferred County: Gloucestershire
Volume: 7b
Page: 362