Zecheriah
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "the Lord remembers".
Name Census estimates that about 25 living Americans carry the first name Zecheriah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zecheriah today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zecheriah births was 1995 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zecheriah. 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 Zecheriah. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
25
~ 1 in 13,710,174 Americans
Peak year
1995
5 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2013 SSA rank
#14,041
Tracked since 1995
Popularity
Zecheriah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zecheriah from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 10 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
Zecheriah 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 Zecheriah 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 Zecheriah
The given name Zecheriah is derived from the Hebrew name Zekharyah, which means "Yahweh has remembered" or "God has remembered." The name has its roots in ancient Israelite culture and can be traced back to the Old Testament of the Bible.
This name was particularly popular among Jews during biblical times. One of the most well-known references to the name is found in the Book of Ezra, where Zecheriah is mentioned as a priest who returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile in the 5th century BCE.
Another notable Zecheriah from the Bible is the prophet Zechariah, who lived during the same period as the priest Zecheriah. The Book of Zechariah in the Old Testament is attributed to this prophet, and it contains his visions and prophecies concerning the restoration of Jerusalem and the coming of the Messiah.
In the New Testament, the name Zecheriah appears as the father of John the Baptist. According to the Gospel of Luke, Zecheriah was a priest who was struck mute for his disbelief in the announcement of his son's birth, but his speech was restored after John's birth.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Zecheriah. One of the earliest was Zecheriah ben Avkolas, a Jewish sage who lived in the 1st century CE and is mentioned in the Talmud.
In the Middle Ages, Zecheriah ben Isaac Hen was a notable Jewish scholar and writer from Spain, who lived in the 13th century. He authored the work "Sefer ha-Shem" (Book of the Name), which explored the mystical and numerological significance of the Hebrew names.
Another prominent Zecheriah was Zecheriah Ursinus, a German Protestant theologian and reformer who lived from 1534 to 1583. He was a prominent figure in the development of the Heidelberg Catechism, a significant document in the Reformed tradition.
In the 17th century, Zecheriah Gregg was an English Puritan minister and author who wrote several religious works, including "The Militant Christian" and "The Morning Exercise at Cripplegate."
Lastly, Zecheriah Mudge was a notable English watchmaker and inventor who lived from 1770 to 1839. He is credited with developing the lever escapement, a crucial component in the design of modern watches and clocks.
People
Zecheriah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zecheriah 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
Zecheriah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zecheriah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 25 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zecheriah 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 13,710,174 US residents.
Is Zecheriah a common name?
We classify Zecheriah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 43.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 25 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zecheriah most popular?
The single biggest year for Zecheriah was 1995, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zecheriah is about 20 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 Zecheriah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zecheriah a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zecheriah 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 Zecheriah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zecheriah 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 Zecheriah 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 Zecheriah?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Zecheriah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.