Zekharyah
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "the Lord remembers".
Name Census estimates that about 12 living Americans carry the first name Zekharyah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zekharyah today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zekharyah births was 2016 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zekharyah. 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 Zekharyah. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
12
~ 1 in 28,562,862 Americans
Peak year
2016
6 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2021 SSA rank
#12,125
Tracked since 2016
Popularity
Zekharyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zekharyah 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 6 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
Zekharyah 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 Zekharyah 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 Zekharyah
The name Zekharyah has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew name Zekharyahu, which is a combination of two Hebrew words: "zakar," meaning "to remember," and "Yah," a shortened form of the name of the Hebrew God, Yahweh.
In the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament, Zekharyah is mentioned as the name of several individuals. One notable figure is the prophet Zekharyah, who lived in the 6th century BCE and is credited with writing the Book of Zekharyah, which is part of the collection of books known as the Twelve Minor Prophets.
The earliest recorded use of the name Zekharyah can be traced back to the biblical period, as evidenced by its appearance in the Hebrew scriptures. Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne this name.
One of the earliest known figures named Zekharyah was Zekharyah ben Avkolas, a Jewish scholar and sage who lived in the 1st century BCE. He is mentioned in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism.
In the New Testament, Zekharyah (also spelled Zacharias) is the name of the father of John the Baptist, a prominent figure in the Christian tradition.
During the Middle Ages, Zekharyah al-Razi, an influential Persian philosopher and physician, lived in the 9th and 10th centuries CE. He made significant contributions to the fields of medicine and philosophy.
In the 16th century, Rabbi Zekharyah Mendel Ben Aryeh Leib was a prominent Jewish scholar and author, known for his work on the Talmud and Jewish law.
Another notable figure named Zekharyah was Zekharyah Dhahir, a 17th-century Arab historian and scholar from modern-day Iraq, who wrote extensively about the history of the region.
The name Zekharyah has been used across various cultures and religions throughout history, reflecting its deep roots in the Hebrew tradition and its enduring popularity as a given name.
People
Zekharyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zekharyah 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
Zekharyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zekharyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zekharyah 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 28,562,862 US residents.
Is Zekharyah a common name?
We classify Zekharyah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 32.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zekharyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Zekharyah was 2016, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zekharyah is about 7 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 Zekharyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zekharyah a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zekharyah 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 Zekharyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zekharyah 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 Zekharyah 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 Zekharyah as a first name?
Want to know how many people share the name Zekharyah? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.