Zacchaeus
A masculine Hebrew name meaning "pure" or "innocent".
Name Census estimates that about 1,881 living Americans carry the first name Zacchaeus. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zacchaeus today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zacchaeus births was 2003 (71 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zacchaeus. 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
1.9K
~ 1 in 182,219 Americans
Peak year
2003
71 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,825
Tracked since 1974
Popularity
Zacchaeus: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zacchaeus from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 612 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Zacchaeus remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zacchaeus 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 Zacchaeus during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zacchaeus' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Zacchaeus, while Arizona, Louisiana, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 48 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zacchaeus
The name Zacchaeus has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture. It is derived from the Hebrew name Zakkai, which itself is a variation of the name Zechariah. The name Zechariah means "the Lord remembers" or "the Lord has remembered" in Hebrew. Zacchaeus can be seen as a shortened or diminutive form of this name.
The name Zacchaeus is perhaps most famously associated with the biblical figure of the same name mentioned in the New Testament Gospel of Luke. In this account, Zacchaeus is described as a wealthy tax collector in the city of Jericho who climbed a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus as he passed through the town. This encounter led to Zacchaeus's conversion and his promise to give half of his possessions to the poor.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Zacchaeus was a Jewish scholar and sage who lived in the 1st century AD. Known as Zacchaeus ben Achunai, he was a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish court of the time, and is mentioned in the Talmud, the central text of Rabbinic Judaism.
Another notable bearer of the name was Zacchaeus the Rhetorician, a 5th-century Christian scholar and philosopher from Gaza in ancient Palestine. He was known for his writings on philosophy and rhetoric, and his work was influential in the Byzantine Empire.
In the 16th century, Zacchaeus Ursinus (1534-1583) was a German theologian and reformer who played a significant role in the development of the Reformed tradition of Protestantism. He was a professor at the University of Heidelberg and is best known for his collaboration with Caspar Olevianus on the Heidelberg Catechism, one of the most influential catechisms in the Reformed tradition.
Another notable figure with the name Zacchaeus was Zacchaeus Cramer (1553-1618), a German Lutheran theologian and educator. He was a professor at the University of Wittenberg and played a role in the development of Lutheran education in Germany.
Finally, Zacchaeus Vieyra (1566-1633) was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary and explorer who is known for his travels and missionary work in Brazil and other parts of South America in the early 17th century. He is recognized for his efforts in evangelizing and educating indigenous populations in the region.
People
Zacchaeus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zacchaeus as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Z
Other first names starting with Z with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Zacchaeus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zacchaeus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,881 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zacchaeus 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 182,219 US residents.
Is Zacchaeus a common name?
We classify Zacchaeus as "Rare". It ranks above 93.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,910 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zacchaeus most popular?
The single biggest year for Zacchaeus was 2003, when 71 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zacchaeus is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Zacchaeus a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zacchaeus 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.
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.