Issachar
Masculine Hebrew name meaning "reward, hire" or "Man of Wages".
Name Census estimates that about 147 living Americans carry the first name Issachar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Issachar today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Issachar births was 2019 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Issachar. 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.
People living today
147
~ 1 in 2,331,662 Americans
Peak year
2019
20 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,942
Tracked since 1976
Census
Issachar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 185 people with the first name Issachar, which placed it at #40,305 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
#40,305
National first-name rank
People counted
185
185 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
43.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Issachar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Issachar is Black at 43.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.9%) and White (21.6%). 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 Issachar 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 Issachar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American43.2% · 80
- Hispanic or Latino25.9% · 48
- White21.6% · 40
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.3% · 8
- Two or more races3.8% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 2
Popularity
Issachar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Issachar from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 79 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Issachar remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Issachar 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 Issachar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Issachars live
Origin
Meaning and history of Issachar
The name Issachar is a biblical name derived from the Hebrew name Yissakhar, which means "he will bring a reward" or "there is recompense". It originates from the ancient Hebrew language and refers to one of the twelve tribes of Israel mentioned in the Bible.
Issachar was the ninth son of Jacob and Leah, as recorded in the Book of Genesis. His name is said to have been given by Leah in recognition of the "reward" she received from God for giving her maidservant Zilpah to her husband Jacob as a wife. The name Issachar is first mentioned in Genesis 30:18.
In the Bible, Issachar is described as a strong and industrious tribe, known for their skills in agriculture and commerce. The tribe of Issachar was allotted a fertile region in the northern part of Canaan, which contributed to their success in farming and trading activities.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Issachar was Issachar, the son of Obed-Edom, who was a gatekeeper of the Ark of the Covenant during the reign of King David, as mentioned in 1 Chronicles 26:5.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Issachar, including:
1. Issachar ben Joseph (1310-1370), a prominent Jewish scholar and philosopher from Spain, known for his work "Otzar Nechmad" (Precious Treasure).
2. Issachar Baer Riksin (1701-1764), a renowned Polish-Jewish Talmudist and author of the influential work "Shulchan Aruch Harav".
3. Issachar Falkensohn Berman (1713-1793), a German-Jewish banker and philanthropist who supported Jewish education and community initiatives.
4. Issachar Ber Ricchi (1680-1753), an Italian-Jewish rabbi and scholar, known for his work "Mishnat Chassidim" (Teaching of the Pious).
5. Issachar Dov Rokeach (1854-1926), the fourth Rebbe of the Belzer Hasidic dynasty in Galicia, Poland, and a respected leader in the Jewish community.
While the name Issachar has its origins in the ancient Hebrew language and biblical texts, it has been used throughout various Jewish communities and across different time periods, reflecting its enduring cultural and religious significance.
People
Issachar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Issachar as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Issachar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Issachar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 147 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Issachar 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 2,331,662 US residents.
Is Issachar a common name?
We classify Issachar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 149 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Issachar most popular?
The single biggest year for Issachar was 2019, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Issachar is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Issachar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 185 people with the name Issachar, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,305 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 Issachar 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 Issachar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Issachar leans strongly male. 176 people counted with this name were male (96.7%), compared with 6 female bearers (3.3%). 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 Issachar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Issachar is Black at 43.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.9%) and White (21.6%). 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 Issachar most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Issachar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.2% (80 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 Issachar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Issachar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Issachar 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 Issachar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Issachar 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 Issachar 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 common is the name Issachar?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.