Zakariah
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "God has remembered".
Name Census estimates that about 961 living Americans carry the first name Zakariah. It is a predominantly male name (90.4% of registrations). The average person named Zakariah today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zakariah births was 2014 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zakariah. 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
961
~ 1 in 356,664 Americans
Peak year
2014
48 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,445
Tracked since 1981
Gender
Gender distribution for Zakariah
Zakariah leans heavily male at 90.4% of total registrations, but 93 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Zakariah as a male name
- Ranked #3,445 in 2024
- 34 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (39 births)
Zakariah as a female name
- Ranked #17,535 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2011 (17 births)
Popularity
Zakariah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zakariah from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 368 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zakariah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zakariah 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 Zakariah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zakariahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Zakariah, while Illinois, California, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 38 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zakariah
The name Zakariah has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, and can be traced back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew name Zechariah, which means "God has remembered" or "the Lord remembers." The name is also found in various forms in other Semitic languages, such as Zacharias in Greek and Zakariya in Arabic.
One of the most notable historical references to the name Zakariah can be found in the Bible. In the Old Testament, Zechariah was a Hebrew prophet who lived in the 6th century BC and whose writings are recorded in the Book of Zechariah. He was a contemporary of the prophets Haggai and Malachi, and his prophecies focused on the restoration of Jerusalem and the Temple after the Babylonian exile.
In the New Testament, Zechariah (or Zacharias) was the father of John the Baptist, and the husband of Elizabeth. The Gospel of Luke recounts the story of how an angel appeared to Zechariah and announced the birth of his son, who would become a great prophet.
The name Zakariah has been borne by several notable figures throughout history. One of the earliest recorded examples is Zakariya al-Razi, a Persian polymath and physician who lived in the 9th and 10th centuries AD. He made significant contributions to medicine, chemistry, and philosophy, and is regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of science.
Another prominent bearer of the name was Zakariya al-Qazwini, a 13th-century Arab writer and geographer who authored the renowned work "Athar al-Bilad wa Akhbar al-'Ibad" (Monuments of the Lands and History of God's Bondsmen), which provided detailed descriptions of various regions and cultures.
In the field of Islamic jurisprudence, Zakariya al-Ansari (1420-1520) was a renowned Sunni scholar and jurist from Egypt. He wrote several influential works on Islamic law and is considered one of the most important figures in the Shafi'i school of thought.
Zakariya ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini (1203-1283), also known as Hamdallah Mustawfi, was a Persian historian and geographer who served as the governor of several provinces under the Ilkhanid dynasty. His work "Nuzhat al-Qulub" (Heart's Delight) is a valuable source for the history and geography of the region during that period.
In modern times, one notable bearer of the name was Zakariya Ismail Khel (1900-1976), a Pakistani politician and leader of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement, which advocated for non-violent resistance against British colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent.
People
Zakariah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zakariah 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
Zakariah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zakariah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 961 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zakariah 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 356,664 US residents.
Is Zakariah a common name?
We classify Zakariah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 973 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zakariah most popular?
The single biggest year for Zakariah was 2014, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zakariah is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Zakariah a male name?
Yes, 90.4% of people registered as Zakariah 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.