Zecharias
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "Yahweh has remembered".
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Zecharias. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zecharias today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zecharias births was 2016 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zecharias. 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 Zecharias. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
2016
5 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2019 SSA rank
#14,096
Tracked since 2016
Popularity
Zecharias: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Zecharias 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 Zecharias during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 10 | 0 | 10 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Zecharias
The name Zecharias has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew name "Zekharyah," which means "the Lord has remembered." This name was popular among the Jewish people during the biblical era and has a strong connection to the Old Testament.
One of the most notable mentions of the name Zecharias can be found in the Book of Luke in the New Testament. It is the name given to the father of John the Baptist, who was a priest in the temple of Jerusalem. According to the biblical account, Zecharias was struck dumb for his disbelief in the angel Gabriel's proclamation that his wife Elizabeth would bear a son in their old age.
In the Old Testament, the name Zecharias is also associated with a prophet who lived during the time of the Persian Empire in the 5th century BC. The Book of Zechariah, which bears his name, is one of the twelve minor prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible. This Zecharias is believed to have played a crucial role in encouraging the Jews to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem after their return from the Babylonian exile.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Zecharias can be found in ancient Hebrew texts and inscriptions from the biblical era. One notable individual bearing this name was Zecharias ben Jehoiada, a high priest in the 9th century BC, who was stoned to death for denouncing the idolatry of King Joash of Judah, according to the Book of Chronicles.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who carried the name Zecharias or its variants:
1. Zecharias Ursinus (1534-1583), a German Protestant theologian and one of the authors of the Heidelberg Catechism.
2. Zecharias Janssen (1585-1638), a Dutch inventor credited with developing the first compound microscope.
3. Zecharias Topellus (1671-1722), a German mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of comets.
4. Zecharias Müller (1679-1749), a German publisher and bookseller who established the famous Müller publishing house in Leipzig.
5. Zecharias Grape (1828-1915), a Norwegian-American pioneer and farmer who played a significant role in the settlement of the Red River Valley in North Dakota.
These examples illustrate the historical significance and widespread use of the name Zecharias across different cultures, religions, and time periods, reflecting its deep-rooted connections to the biblical and Judeo-Christian traditions.
People
Zecharias + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zecharias 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
Zecharias: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zecharias?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zecharias 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 Zecharias a common name?
We classify Zecharias 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 Zecharias most popular?
The single biggest year for Zecharias was 2016, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zecharias 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 Zecharias in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zecharias a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zecharias 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 Zecharias still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zecharias 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 Zecharias 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 have the name Zecharias?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.