Meshach
From the Hebrew name Meshak, meaning "who is what Aku (a Babylonian god) is?"
Name Census estimates that about 554 living Americans carry the first name Meshach. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Meshach today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Meshach births was 1994 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Meshach. 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
554
~ 1 in 618,690 Americans
Peak year
1994
32 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,340
Tracked since 1977
Popularity
Meshach: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Meshach from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 211 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Meshach 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 Meshach during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Meshachs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Meshach
The name Meshach originates from the Hebrew language and is derived from the word meshak, which means "to be tall" or "to be drawn out." The earliest recorded use of this name dates back to the 6th century BC, during the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish people.
In the Bible's Book of Daniel, Meshach is the Hebrew name given to one of the three young men, along with Shadrach and Abednego, who were thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to worship the golden statue of King Nebuchadnezzar. This biblical account is a significant historical reference for the name Meshach.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Meshach was Meshach Margaliot (1610-1690), a renowned Rabbi and Talmudic scholar who lived in Italy during the 17th century. He authored several significant works on Jewish law and philosophy.
Another notable figure named Meshach was Meshach Whitley (1677-1736), an English Quaker leader and writer who played a crucial role in the early Quaker movement in Pennsylvania.
In the 19th century, Meshach Browning (1819-1893) was an American lawyer, judge, and politician who served as a U.S. Senator from Tennessee from 1869 to 1875.
During the same period, Meshach Peters (1813-1887) was an American farmer, politician, and Union Army officer who served as the 12th Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut from 1873 to 1875.
More recently, Meshach Taylor (1947-2014) was an American actor best known for his role as Anthony Bouvier on the CBS sitcom "Designing Women," for which he received an Emmy Award nomination in 1989.
People
Meshach + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Meshach 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
Meshach: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Meshach?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 554 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Meshach 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 618,690 US residents.
Is Meshach a common name?
We classify Meshach as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 565 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Meshach most popular?
The single biggest year for Meshach was 1994, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Meshach is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Meshach a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Meshach 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.