Haggai
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "festive" or "festal".
Name Census estimates that about 28 living Americans carry the first name Haggai. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Haggai today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Haggai births was 2023 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Haggai. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Haggai. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
28
~ 1 in 12,241,226 Americans
Peak year
2023
9 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2023 SSA rank
#8,475
Tracked since 2003
Popularity
Haggai: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Haggai from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 14 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Haggai remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Haggai by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Haggai during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Haggai
The name Haggai originated from the Hebrew language and has its roots in ancient Israel. It is derived from the Hebrew word "hag," meaning "festive" or "festival." The name dates back to the biblical era, around the 6th century BCE.
Haggai was a Hebrew prophet mentioned in the Book of Haggai in the Hebrew Bible. This book is part of the Ketuvim, the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and is one of the twelve minor prophets. Haggai's prophecies encouraged the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Haggai is found in the Bible, where the prophet Haggai is described as a contemporary of Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, and Joshua, the high priest. The book of Haggai contains four prophetic messages delivered in 520 BCE, urging the people to rebuild the Temple.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Haggai. One of the most famous was Haggai ben Uzziah, a Jewish scholar who lived in the 4th century CE and is mentioned in the Talmud. Another notable figure was Haggai Gaon, a prominent Jewish scholar and leader who lived in the 11th century CE and served as the head of the academy in Pumbedita, Babylonia.
Haggai ben David, a 13th-century Jewish philosopher and writer, is also worth mentioning. He was born in Spain and is known for his works on Jewish law and philosophy. Haggai ben Samuel, a 14th-century Jewish poet and scholar from Castile, Spain, contributed to the development of Hebrew poetry.
In more recent times, Haggai Kurzberg was an Israeli spy who was part of the team that carried out the assassination of Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, a senior Hamas leader, in Dubai in 2010. Kurzberg was arrested and later released by the Dubai authorities.
While the name Haggai is not as common today as it once was, it still holds significance in the Jewish and Christian traditions, serving as a reminder of the biblical prophet and his role in the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
People
Haggai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Haggai as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Haggai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Haggai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 28 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Haggai going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 12,241,226 US residents.
Is Haggai a common name?
We classify Haggai as "Very Rare". It ranks above 45.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 28 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Haggai most popular?
The single biggest year for Haggai was 2023, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Haggai is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Haggai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Haggai a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Haggai in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Haggai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Haggai in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Haggai can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Haggai?
Want to know how many people have the name Haggai? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.