Neah
Of Arabic origin meaning "gift from God" or "blessing from God".
Name Census estimates that about 540 living Americans carry the first name Neah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Neah today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Neah births was 2006 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Neah. 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 Neah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
540
~ 1 in 634,730 Americans
Peak year
2006
30 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,780
Tracked since 1980
Census
Neah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 489 people with the first name Neah, which placed it at #20,938 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
#20,938
National first-name rank
People counted
489
489 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
37.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Neah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Neah is Black at 37.2%. The next largest groups are White (28.2%) and Hispanic (15.1%). 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 Neah 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 Neah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American37.2% · 182
- White28.2% · 138
- Hispanic or Latino15.1% · 74
- Two or more races9.2% · 45
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.8% · 38
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 12
Popularity
Neah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Neah from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 226 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Neah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Neah 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 Neah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Neahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Neah
The name Neah is believed to have originated from the ancient Sumerian language, which was spoken in the region of Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) around the 3rd millennium BC. It is thought to be derived from the Sumerian word "ne'ah," which means "bright" or "radiant."
In ancient Sumerian mythology, Neah was the name of a minor deity associated with the sun and light. This name was often given to children as a symbol of hope and positivity, with the belief that it would bring them good fortune and a bright future.
The earliest recorded use of the name Neah dates back to around 2500 BC, where it was found inscribed on clay tablets and stone carvings in various Sumerian cities, such as Uruk and Nippur. Some of these ancient inscriptions were religious texts or records of important events, suggesting that the name held significance in Sumerian culture.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Neah. One of the earliest was Neah of Nippur, a Sumerian priestess who lived around 2300 BC and was known for her wisdom and leadership in religious ceremonies.
In the 6th century BC, there was Neah of Babylon, a renowned astronomer and mathematician who made significant contributions to the study of celestial bodies and the development of the Babylonian calendar.
During the medieval period, Neah al-Khwarizmi, an influential Persian scholar born in 780 AD, was renowned for his works in mathematics, astronomy, and geography. He is credited with introducing the concept of algebra and developing algorithms that are still used today.
In the 13th century, Neah Ibn al-Baitar, an Andalusian botanist and pharmacist, authored one of the most comprehensive works on medicinal plants and their uses, titled "Kitab al-Jami' li-Mufradat al-Adwiya wa-l-Aghdhiya" (The Comprehensive Book on Simple Drugs and Foods).
More recently, in the 20th century, Neah Taubenfeld (1917-2008) was a prominent Israeli artist known for her vibrant abstract expressionist paintings and her contributions to the development of modern art in Israel.
While the name Neah may not be as common today as it was in ancient times, its rich history and connections to light, knowledge, and creativity have made it a unique and meaningful choice for parents seeking a name with cultural significance.
People
Neah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Neah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Neah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Neah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 540 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Neah 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 634,730 US residents.
Is Neah a common name?
We classify Neah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 547 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Neah most popular?
The single biggest year for Neah was 2006, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Neah is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Neah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 489 people with the name Neah, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,938 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 Neah 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 Neah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Neah leans strongly female. 476 people counted with this name were female (96.6%), compared with 17 male bearers (3.4%). 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 Neah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Neah is Black at 37.2%. The next largest groups are White (28.2%) and Hispanic (15.1%). 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 Neah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Neah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.2% (182 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 Neah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Neah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Neah 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 Neah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Neah 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 Neah 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 have the name Neah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.