Messiah
Anointed deliverer or liberator in Hebrew.
Name Census estimates that about 26,190 living Americans carry the first name Messiah. It sits at #203 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (96.1% of registrations). The average person named Messiah today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Messiah births was 2021 (2,265 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Messiah. 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 Messiah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Messiah is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,026 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Messiah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 9 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
26K
~ 1 in 13,087 Americans
Peak year
2021
2,265 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#203
Tracked since 1973
Census
Messiah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,762 people with the first name Messiah, which placed it at #2,224 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
#2,224
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
11,762 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
75.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Messiah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Messiah is Black at 75.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.2%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Messiah 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 Messiah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American75.7% · 8,899
- Hispanic or Latino14.2% · 1,672
- Two or more races6.4% · 748
- White2.2% · 264
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 93
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 86
Gender
Gender distribution for Messiah
Messiah leans heavily male at 96.1% of total registrations, but 1,026 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Messiah as a male name
- Ranked #203 in 2024
- 1,734 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (2,231 births)
Messiah as a female name
- Ranked #7,814 in 2024
- 14 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (74 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Messiah leans strongly male. 11,009 people counted with this name were male (93.6%), compared with 758 female bearers (6.4%).
Popularity
Messiah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Messiah 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 13,417 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Messiah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Messiah 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 Messiah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Messiahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 42 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Florida recorded the most babies named Messiah, while Utah, South Dakota, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 587 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Messiah
The name Messiah has its origins in the Hebrew language and is derived from the word "mashiach," which means "anointed one." It is a title given to a long-awaited deliverer or savior, initially associated with the Jewish tradition.
In the Hebrew Bible, the concept of a Messiah is mentioned, particularly in the books of Isaiah and Daniel. The Messiah was expected to be a descendant of King David, who would restore the kingdom of Israel and bring peace and justice to the world.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Messiah can be found in the New Testament of the Bible. Jesus Christ is referred to as the Messiah, with his followers believing him to be the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.
Throughout history, several individuals have been associated with the name Messiah or claimed to be the Messiah. One notable example is Sabbatai Zevi, a 17th-century Jewish rabbi who proclaimed himself as the Messiah in 1666. His movement gained significant followers but eventually collapsed.
Another individual who adopted the title of Messiah was Jacob Frank, a Polish-German Jewish religious leader who lived from 1726 to 1791. He founded the Frankist movement, which combined elements of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
In the 19th century, a Persian named Mirza Husayn Ali, known as Baha'u'llah, claimed to be the Messiah and the Promised One of all religions. He founded the Baha'i Faith, which has millions of followers worldwide.
The name Messiah has also been used in various artistic and cultural works. For instance, George Frideric Handel's famous oratorio "Messiah," composed in 1741, is a renowned musical work that explores the life and message of Jesus Christ.
It is important to note that while the name Messiah has significant religious and historical connotations, its usage as a given name in modern times may not necessarily reflect those traditional meanings. However, its historical and cultural significance cannot be overlooked.
People
Messiah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Messiah 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
Messiah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Messiah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 26,190 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Messiah 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 13,087 US residents.
Is Messiah a common name?
We classify Messiah as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 26,397 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Messiah most popular?
The single biggest year for Messiah was 2021, when 2,265 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Messiah is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Messiah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,762 people with the name Messiah, or 3.89 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,224 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 Messiah 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 Messiah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Messiah leans strongly male. 11,009 people counted with this name were male (93.6%), compared with 758 female bearers (6.4%). 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 Messiah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Messiah is Black at 75.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.2%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Messiah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Messiah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.7% (8,899 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 Messiah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Messiah a male name?
Yes, 96.1% of people registered as Messiah 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 Messiah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Messiah 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 Messiah 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 Messiah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.