Jebediah
A masculine Hebrew name meaning "Jehovah is the source of joy".
Name Census estimates that about 719 living Americans carry the first name Jebediah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jebediah today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jebediah births was 2016 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jebediah. 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
719
~ 1 in 476,710 Americans
Peak year
2016
29 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,352
Tracked since 1973
Popularity
Jebediah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jebediah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 197 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jebediah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jebediah 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 Jebediah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jebediahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jebediah
The given name Jebediah has its origins in Hebrew, stemming from the biblical name Obadiah. It is a variant spelling that emerged in the 17th century among English Puritans. Obadiah itself is derived from the Hebrew words "Ovad" meaning "servant" and "Yah" referring to God, essentially translating to "servant of God".
Jebediah was a popular choice for male children among the Puritans of New England in the 1600s and 1700s. It was seen as a virtuous and pious name, reflecting their religious beliefs and values. The name appears in various early colonial records and church registries from that era.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jebediah is found in the 1639 book "The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America" by Nathaniel Ward, where he mentions a character named Jebediah Neesucker. This suggests the name was already in use among the Puritan settlers of Massachusetts Bay Colony at that time.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Jebediah. One of the earliest was Jebediah Morse (1761-1826), an American geographer and minister known for his influential works such as "American Gazetteer" and "Elements of Geography". Another was Jebediah Huntington (1736-1819), a Continental Army officer who served during the American Revolutionary War.
In the 19th century, Jebediah Kilburn Spaulding (1819-1905) was a prominent American Baptist minister and educator, serving as the first president of the University of Kansas. During the same period, Jebediah Southworth (1811-1896) was a renowned American shipbuilder and inventor from Maine.
Jumping to the 20th century, Jebediah Springfield was the name given to a fictional character in the popular animated series "The Simpsons". Though not a real person, this portrayal likely helped to renew interest in the name among modern audiences.
While not as common today as it once was, Jebediah remains a distinctly American name with a rich historical legacy rooted in the Puritan heritage of early colonial New England. Its Hebrew origins and biblical connotations have contributed to its enduring appeal over the centuries.
People
Jebediah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jebediah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jebediah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jebediah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 719 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jebediah 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 476,710 US residents.
Is Jebediah a common name?
We classify Jebediah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 737 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jebediah most popular?
The single biggest year for Jebediah was 2016, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jebediah is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Jebediah a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jebediah 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.
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.