Nemiah
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "tranquil" or "joyful".
Name Census estimates that about 204 living Americans carry the first name Nemiah. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 74.2% of registrations being male. The average person named Nemiah today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nemiah births was 2010 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nemiah. 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
204
~ 1 in 1,680,168 Americans
Peak year
2010
18 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,581
Tracked since 1914
Census
Nemiah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 279 people with the first name Nemiah, which placed it at #30,942 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
#30,942
National first-name rank
People counted
279
279 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
62.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nemiah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nemiah is Black at 62.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.2%) and Two or More Races (9.3%). 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 Nemiah 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 Nemiah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American62.4% · 174
- Hispanic or Latino17.2% · 48
- Two or more races9.3% · 26
- White6.5% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Nemiah
Nemiah is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 310 total registrations, 230 (74.2%) were male and 80 (25.8%) were female.
Nemiah as a male name
- Ranked #9,581 in 2024
- 8 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2010 (12 births)
Nemiah as a female name
- Ranked #12,685 in 2015
- 8 female births in 2015
- Peak: 2006 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nemiah on both sides of the split. Of the 276 people counted with this name, 187 were male (67.8%) and 89 were female (32.2%).
Popularity
Nemiah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nemiah from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 70 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
Nemiah 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 Nemiah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nemiah
The name Nemiah is believed to have originated from the Hebrew language, derived from the biblical name Nehemiah. It is a combination of two Hebrew words, "nechemah," meaning comfort or consolation, and "Yahweh," the name of God. The name Nehemiah first appears in the Old Testament book of the same name, which tells the story of Nehemiah, a Jewish cupbearer to the Persian king Artaxerxes I in the 5th century BC.
Nehemiah was a leader who played a crucial role in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. His name became associated with courage, perseverance, and a deep faith in God. While the exact origin of the name Nemiah is unclear, it is likely a shortened or variations of the biblical name Nehemiah.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nemiah can be found in the writings of the ancient Jewish historian Josephus, who mentioned a man named Nemiah in his work "The Jewish War" from the 1st century AD. However, the name remained relatively uncommon throughout much of recorded history.
One notable figure who bore the name Nemiah was Nemiah Tresidder, an English mathematician and astronomer who lived from 1608 to 1688. He made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics and published several works on astronomy and mathematics.
Another person of historical significance with the name Nemiah was Nemiah Shumway, an American pioneer and early settler of Utah, born in 1793. He played a role in the establishment of several towns and communities in the western United States during the early 19th century.
In the realm of literature, Nemiah Johnson was an African American author and poet who lived from 1916 to 1997. He gained recognition for his works that explored themes of racial identity, social injustice, and the African American experience.
Nemiah Williams, born in 1920, was a notable figure in the civil rights movement in the United States. He actively participated in protests and demonstrations, advocating for equal rights and racial equality.
Despite its relatively uncommon usage throughout history, the name Nemiah has maintained a unique and meaningful connection to its biblical roots, symbolizing comfort, strength, and perseverance in the face of adversity.
People
Nemiah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nemiah 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
Nemiah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nemiah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 204 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nemiah 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 1,680,168 US residents.
Is Nemiah a common name?
We classify Nemiah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 310 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nemiah most popular?
The single biggest year for Nemiah was 2010, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nemiah is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nemiah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 279 people with the name Nemiah, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,942 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 Nemiah 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 Nemiah?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nemiah on both sides of the split. Of the 276 people counted with this name, 187 were male (67.8%) and 89 were female (32.2%). 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 Nemiah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nemiah is Black at 62.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.2%) and Two or More Races (9.3%). 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 Nemiah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Nemiah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.4% (174 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 Nemiah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nemiah a male name?
Yes, 74.2% of people registered as Nemiah 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 Nemiah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nemiah 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 Nemiah 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 Americans are named Nemiah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.