Meah
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "one hundred".
Name Census estimates that about 1,592 living Americans carry the first name Meah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Meah today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Meah births was 2006 (122 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Meah. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Meah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Meah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 215,298 Americans
Peak year
2006
122 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,809
Tracked since 1979
Census
Meah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,334 people with the first name Meah, which placed it at #10,118 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
#10,118
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,334 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Meah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meah is White at 44.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.7%) and Black (19.6%). 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 Meah 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 Meah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.8% · 598
- Hispanic or Latino21.7% · 289
- Black or African American19.6% · 262
- Two or more races9.4% · 125
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 31
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 29
Popularity
Meah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Meah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 749 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Meah 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 Meah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Meahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. California, Texas, Michigan recorded the most babies named Meah, while Wisconsin, Missouri, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 24 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Meah
The name Meah originates from the Hebrew language and culture, with roots dating back to ancient times. In Hebrew, the name is derived from the word "me'ah," which translates to "hundred." This connection to the numerical value of one hundred suggests a sense of abundance, completeness, and wholeness.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Meah can be found in the Bible, specifically in the Book of Genesis. Meah was the name of a servant mentioned as part of Abraham's household during the Patriarchal period, around the 18th century BCE.
Throughout history, the name Meah has been worn by several notable individuals. In the 12th century, Meah ben Elijah was a renowned Hebrew scholar and poet from Seville, Spain. His works contributed significantly to the preservation and advancement of Jewish literature during the Golden Age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula.
Moving forward to the 16th century, Meah ben Joseph was a celebrated Kabbalist and scholar from Safed, Palestine. His teachings and writings on the mystical aspects of Judaism had a profound influence on the development of Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism.
In the 19th century, Meah Shearim, a neighborhood in Jerusalem, was named after Rabbi Meah, a prominent Jewish leader and scholar who lived during the 2nd century CE. This neighborhood remains an important center of Orthodox Jewish life and culture to this day.
More recently, Meah Benazir was an Afghan women's rights activist and journalist who fought tirelessly for gender equality and women's empowerment in Afghanistan during the late 20th century. Her courageous efforts and advocacy played a crucial role in raising awareness about the struggles faced by Afghan women under the Taliban regime.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Meah throughout history, each leaving their mark in various fields and contributing to the richness and diversity of human experiences across different eras and cultures.
People
Meah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Meah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Meah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Meah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,592 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Meah 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 215,298 US residents.
Is Meah a common name?
We classify Meah as "Rare". It ranks above 92.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,613 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Meah most popular?
The single biggest year for Meah was 2006, when 122 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Meah is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Meah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,334 people with the name Meah, or 0.44 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,118 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 Meah 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 Meah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Meah appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,327 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Meah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meah is White at 44.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.7%) and Black (19.6%). 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 Meah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Meah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.8% (598 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 Meah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Meah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Meah in the SSA data are female. 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 Meah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Meah 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 Meah 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 named Meah?
Find out how many people have the name Meah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.