Hezikiah
The masculine given name of Hebrew origin meaning "God strengthens" or "God strengthens me".
Name Census estimates that about 58 living Americans carry the first name Hezikiah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hezikiah today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hezikiah births was 1916 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hezikiah. 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 Hezikiah. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
58
~ 1 in 5,909,558 Americans
Peak year
1916
10 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,399
Tracked since 1916
Census
Hezikiah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 116 people with the first name Hezikiah, which placed it at #51,012 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#51,012
National first-name rank
People counted
116
116 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
52.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hezikiah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hezikiah is Black at 52.6%. The next largest groups are White (17.2%) and Two or More Races (15.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Hezikiah described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Hezikiah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American52.6% · 61
- White17.2% · 20
- Two or more races15.5% · 18
- Hispanic or Latino13.8% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 1
Popularity
Hezikiah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hezikiah from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 27 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Hezikiah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hezikiah 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 Hezikiah 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 Hezikiah
The name Hezekiah has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, with the earliest known records dating back to the 8th century BCE. It is derived from the Hebrew words "chazaq" meaning "to strengthen" and "Yah" referring to the name of God. The name can be translated as "God strengthens" or "Yahweh strengthens."
One of the most notable historical references to the name Hezekiah is found in the Hebrew Bible, specifically in the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles. Hezekiah was a king of Judah who reigned from approximately 715 to 686 BCE. He is revered in the biblical accounts for his religious reforms, which included the purification of the Temple in Jerusalem and the restoration of the worship of God.
The earliest recorded example of the name Hezekiah can be found in the biblical narrative itself, referring to the aforementioned king of Judah. However, the name gained popularity beyond its biblical origins and has been used across various cultures and time periods.
Among the notable individuals who bore the name Hezekiah throughout history are:
1. Hezekiah, king of Judah (c. 715-686 BCE), as mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.
2. Hezekiah Woodward (1591-1675), an English nonconformist minister and theologian.
3. Hezekiah Niles (1777-1839), an American editor and journalist who founded the influential newspaper "Niles' Weekly Register."
4. Hezekiah Butterworth (1839-1905), an American writer and editor known for his children's literature and historical works.
5. Hezekiah Morse (1784-1840), an American inventor and businessman, credited with developing an important method for producing wire rope.
While the name Hezekiah has its roots in ancient Hebrew culture, it has been adopted and used by various communities throughout history, often carrying the symbolic meaning of strength and divine support.
People
Hezikiah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hezikiah 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
Hezikiah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hezikiah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 58 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hezikiah 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 5,909,558 US residents.
Is Hezikiah a common name?
We classify Hezikiah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 56.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 99 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hezikiah most popular?
The single biggest year for Hezikiah was 1916, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hezikiah is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hezikiah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 116 people with the name Hezikiah, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #51,012 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Hezikiah in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Hezikiah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hezikiah appears almost entirely male. Of the 116 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Hezikiah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hezikiah is Black at 52.6%. The next largest groups are White (17.2%) and Two or More Races (15.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Hezikiah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Hezikiah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.6% (61 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
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 Hezikiah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hezikiah a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hezikiah 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 Hezikiah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hezikiah 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 Hezikiah 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.
How many people are called Hezikiah?
See how many Americans are named Hezikiah on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.