Yirmeyah
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "God will exalt".
Name Census estimates that about 13 living Americans carry the first name Yirmeyah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yirmeyah today is around 6 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yirmeyah births was 2023 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yirmeyah. 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 Yirmeyah. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
13
~ 1 in 26,365,718 Americans
Peak year
2023
8 babies that year
Average age
6
years old
2023 SSA rank
#9,717
Tracked since 2015
Popularity
Yirmeyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yirmeyah from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 8 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yirmeyah 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 Yirmeyah 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 Yirmeyah
The given name Yirmeyah is a Hebrew name derived from the biblical prophet Jeremiah. It originates from the Hebrew words "yarim" meaning "to exalt" and "Yahweh" which is the name of God in Hebrew. The name Yirmeyah therefore translates to "Yahweh has uplifted" or "Exalted by Yahweh."
Yirmeyah is a variant spelling of the more common Jeremiah, which is the English transliteration of the Hebrew name. The name has its roots in ancient Judaic culture and is found in the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament. Jeremiah was a prominent prophet in the Kingdom of Judah during the 6th century BCE.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Yirmeyah is in the Book of Jeremiah in the Hebrew Bible. This book is attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, who lived in the late 7th and early 6th centuries BCE. He is known for his lamentations and warnings about the impending destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Yirmeyah or its variants. One of the earliest was Jeremiah ben Eliezer, a prominent Jewish scholar who lived in the 11th century CE. Another was Jeremiah Logander, a Swedish theologian and hymn writer who lived from 1695 to 1767.
In more recent times, there was Jeremiah Lamphier, an American businessman and lay minister who is credited with starting the Fulton Street Revival in 1857, a significant religious movement in New York City. Additionally, Jeremiah Duggan was a British student who died under mysterious circumstances in Germany in 2003, leading to an investigation and controversy surrounding his death.
Finally, Jeremiah Trotter was an American football player who played as a linebacker in the National Football League from 1998 to 2009, primarily for the Philadelphia Eagles. He was born in 1977 and is known for his outstanding defensive skills and leadership on the field.
People
Yirmeyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yirmeyah 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
Yirmeyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yirmeyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yirmeyah 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 26,365,718 US residents.
Is Yirmeyah a common name?
We classify Yirmeyah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 33.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yirmeyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Yirmeyah was 2023, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yirmeyah is about 6 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 Yirmeyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yirmeyah a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yirmeyah 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 Yirmeyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yirmeyah 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 Yirmeyah 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 share the name Yirmeyah?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.