Yeremiah
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "exalted of the Lord".
Name Census estimates that about 49 living Americans carry the first name Yeremiah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yeremiah today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yeremiah births was 2011 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yeremiah. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Yeremiah. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
49
~ 1 in 6,994,986 Americans
Peak year
2011
9 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2023 SSA rank
#14,118
Tracked since 2009
Popularity
Yeremiah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yeremiah from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 39 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yeremiah 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 Yeremiah 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 Yeremiah
Yeremiah is a masculine given name of Hebrew origin. It is derived from the Biblical Hebrew name Yirmeyahu, which is composed of the elements yerem, meaning "appointed," and Yah, a shortened form of the Hebrew name for God.
The name Yeremiah first appeared in the Old Testament of the Bible, where it was the name of the prophet Jeremiah, who lived in the 7th century BCE. Jeremiah is one of the major prophets in the Hebrew Bible, and his book, the Book of Jeremiah, is one of the longest books in the Bible.
The name Yeremiah has been used throughout history by various individuals. One of the earliest recorded uses of the name was Jeremiah ben Eleazar, a Jewish scholar who lived in the 1st century CE. Another early bearer of the name was Jeremiah of Sidon, a Greek writer who lived in the 2nd century CE.
In the Middle Ages, the name Yeremiah was used by several notable individuals, including Jeremiah of Regensburg, a German Benedictine monk and writer who lived in the 11th century. Jeremiah of Montpellier, a French rabbi and philosopher who lived in the 13th century, was also a prominent bearer of the name.
During the Renaissance, the name Yeremiah was used by several artists and writers, including Jeremiah Trevisan, an Italian alchemist who lived in the 15th century, and Jeremiah Horrocks, an English astronomer who lived in the 17th century.
In more recent history, the name Yeremiah has been used by several notable figures, including Jeremiah Denton, an American naval officer and Vietnam War prisoner of war who lived from 1924 to 2014. Jeremiah Tower, an American chef and restaurateur who was a pioneer of California cuisine, was born in 1942 and is still living.
People
Yeremiah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yeremiah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Y
Other first names starting with Y with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Yeremiah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yeremiah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 49 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yeremiah 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 6,994,986 US residents.
Is Yeremiah a common name?
We classify Yeremiah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 54% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 49 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yeremiah most popular?
The single biggest year for Yeremiah was 2011, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yeremiah is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Yeremiah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yeremiah a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yeremiah 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 Yeremiah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yeremiah 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 Yeremiah 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Yeremiah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.