Neriah
Hebrew origin meaning "light of the Lord" or "lamp of the Lord".
Name Census estimates that about 3,347 living Americans carry the first name Neriah. It is a predominantly female name (97.5% of registrations). The average person named Neriah today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Neriah births was 2024 (338 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Neriah. 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 Neriah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Neriah is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 85 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Neriah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.3K
~ 1 in 102,406 Americans
Peak year
2024
338 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#830
Tracked since 1994
Census
Neriah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,827 people with the first name Neriah, which placed it at #8,059 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
#8,059
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,827 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
51.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Neriah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Neriah is Black at 51.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.8%) and White (11.4%). 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 Neriah 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 Neriah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American51.6% · 942
- Hispanic or Latino21.8% · 398
- White11.4% · 208
- Two or more races9.2% · 168
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.9% · 90
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 21
Gender
Gender distribution for Neriah
Neriah leans heavily female at 97.5% of total registrations, but 85 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Neriah as a male name
- Ranked #7,569 in 2024
- 11 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (12 births)
Neriah as a female name
- Ranked #830 in 2024
- 327 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (327 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Neriah leans strongly female. 1,743 people counted with this name were female (95.5%), compared with 83 male bearers (4.5%).
Popularity
Neriah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Neriah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,772 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Neriah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Neriah 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 Neriah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Neriahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 30 states and territories. Texas, Florida, California recorded the most babies named Neriah, while Utah, Nevada, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 73 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Neriah
The name Neriah is believed to have its origins in the Hebrew language. It is a combination of two Hebrew words, "ner" meaning "lamp" or "light," and "Yah" which is a form of the Hebrew name for God, "Yahweh." The name Neriah can be translated to mean "light of God" or "lamp of the Lord."
This name has biblical connections and is mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament. Neriah was the name of the father of Baruch, who was a scribe and a companion of the prophet Jeremiah. The name is referenced in Jeremiah 32:12, "And I gave the deed of purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the deed of purchase, before all the Jews that sat in the court of the guard."
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Neriah was a 12th-century French rabbi and scholar, known as Neriah ben Melech. He was a prominent figure in the Jewish community of Narbonne, France, and was renowned for his expertise in Talmudic studies.
In the 16th century, there was a notable Jewish scholar and kabbalist named Neriah Mizrahi, who lived in Safed, in the Galilee region of present-day Israel. He was a disciple of the famous kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac Luria, and was known for his contributions to the study of Jewish mysticism.
Another historical figure with the name Neriah was Neriah ben Yaakov, a 17th-century rabbi and scholar from Amsterdam. He was a respected authority on Jewish law and is known for his work, "Shevet Mussar," which was a commentary on the Talmudic tractate of Bava Kamma.
In more recent times, there was an Israeli painter and sculptor named Neriah Zinger, who was born in 1929 and passed away in 2017. He was known for his abstract expressionist paintings and his contributions to the Israeli art scene in the latter half of the 20th century.
Another notable individual with the name Neriah was Neriah Gurevitch, who was born in 1926 and passed away in 2005. He was an Israeli physicist and professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, known for his work in the field of nuclear physics and his contributions to the development of nuclear energy in Israel.
People
Neriah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Neriah 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
Neriah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Neriah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,347 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Neriah 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 102,406 US residents.
Is Neriah a common name?
We classify Neriah as "Rare". It ranks above 95.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,374 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Neriah most popular?
The single biggest year for Neriah was 2024, when 338 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Neriah is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Neriah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,827 people with the name Neriah, or 0.60 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,059 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 Neriah 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 Neriah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Neriah leans strongly female. 1,743 people counted with this name were female (95.5%), compared with 83 male bearers (4.5%). 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 Neriah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Neriah is Black at 51.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.8%) and White (11.4%). 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 Neriah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Neriah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.6% (942 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 Neriah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Neriah a female name?
Yes, 97.5% of people registered as Neriah 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 Neriah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Neriah 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 Neriah 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 Neriah?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Neriah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.