Zachariyah
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "the Lord has remembered".
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Zachariyah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zachariyah today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zachariyah births was 2014 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zachariyah. 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 Zachariyah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Zachariyah. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
2014
5 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2021 SSA rank
#14,030
Tracked since 2014
Popularity
Zachariyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zachariyah 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 5 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
Zachariyah 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 Zachariyah 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 Zachariyah
The name Zachariyah is derived from the Hebrew name Zechariah, which means "Yahweh remembers" or "the Lord has remembered." It has its origins in ancient Judaic culture and the Old Testament of the Bible.
Zechariah was the name of a prominent Hebrew prophet who lived in the 6th century BC and authored the Book of Zechariah in the Old Testament. The name gained popularity among Jewish communities and was later adopted by other cultures, including Arabic, where it became Zachariyah.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zachariyah can be found in the Quran, the sacred text of Islam. Zachariyah (Zakariya in Arabic) is mentioned as the father of John the Baptist, who was a prominent figure in both the Islamic and Christian traditions.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Zachariyah. One such person was Zachariyah al-Razi (854-925 CE), a Persian polymath who made significant contributions to the fields of medicine, philosophy, and chemistry.
Another famous bearer of the name was Zachariyah ibn Mahmud al-Kazwini (1203-1283 CE), an Arab writer and geographer who authored the book "Cosmography," which provided detailed accounts of the known world during his time.
In the 16th century, Zachariyah Ursinus (1534-1583) was a German Protestant theologian and one of the principal authors of the Heidelberg Catechism, an influential Reformed confession of faith.
In the 18th century, Zachariyah Bunker (1719-1799) was an American soldier who fought in the American Revolutionary War and is known for his heroic actions during the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Zachariyah Chandler (1813-1879) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a United States Senator from Michigan and was a prominent figure in the anti-slavery movement.
People
Zachariyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zachariyah 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
Zachariyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zachariyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zachariyah 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 34,275,434 US residents.
Is Zachariyah a common name?
We classify Zachariyah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 28.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zachariyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Zachariyah was 2014, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zachariyah is about 8 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 Zachariyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zachariyah a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zachariyah 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 Zachariyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zachariyah 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 Zachariyah 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 Americans are named Zachariyah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.