Zeriah
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "shining" or "radiant".
Name Census estimates that about 318 living Americans carry the first name Zeriah. It is a predominantly female name (98.4% of registrations). The average person named Zeriah today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zeriah births was 2010 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zeriah. 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
318
~ 1 in 1,077,844 Americans
Peak year
2010
22 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2010 SSA rank
#8,403
Tracked since 2002
Census
Zeriah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 263 people with the first name Zeriah, which placed it at #32,158 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#32,158
National first-name rank
People counted
263
263 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
31.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zeriah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zeriah is Hispanic at 31.6%. The next largest groups are Black (31.2%) and White (16.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Zeriah described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Zeriah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino31.6% · 83
- Black or African American31.2% · 82
- White16.7% · 44
- Two or more races12.9% · 34
- American Indian and Alaska Native4.9% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Zeriah
Zeriah leans heavily female at 98.4% of total registrations, but 5 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Zeriah as a male name
- Ranked #14,245 in 2010
- 5 male births in 2010
- Peak: 2010 (5 births)
Zeriah as a female name
- Ranked #8,403 in 2024
- 13 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (22 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zeriah leans strongly female. 227 people counted with this name were female (87.6%), compared with 32 male bearers (12.4%).
Popularity
Zeriah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zeriah from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 177 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zeriah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zeriah 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 Zeriah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zeriahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Zeriah
The given name Zeriah has its origins in the Hebrew language. It is a feminine name that means "to shine" or "to rise up like the dawn." The name can be traced back to ancient Semitic roots and is believed to have been in use in the region of Canaan and ancient Israel during biblical times.
Zeriah is a variation of the Hebrew name Zeri or Zeri'ah, which is mentioned in several passages of the Hebrew Bible. In the Book of Ezra, Zeriah is listed as one of the heads of families that returned from the Babylonian captivity to Jerusalem. There is also a mention of a man named Zeriah who was one of the sons of Uzzi in the Book of 1 Chronicles.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zeriah can be found in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism. The Talmud mentions a woman named Zeriah who lived during the 1st century CE and was known for her wisdom and piety.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Zeriah:
1. Zeriah ben Shamai (c. 1st century CE) was a famous Jewish scholar and member of the Sanhedrin, the supreme council of ancient Israel.
2. Zeriah ben Eleazar (c. 2nd century CE) was a renowned Jewish rabbi and scholar who lived in Palestine during the Roman period.
3. Zeriah Ephron (c. 16th century) was a Jewish scholar and author from Constantinople, known for his works on Jewish law and philosophy.
4. Zeriah Anaw (c. 17th century) was a prominent Kabbalist and rabbi from Safed, a city in modern-day Israel that was a center of Jewish mysticism.
5. Zeriah Mendel ben Aryeh Leib (1720-1773) was a renowned Talmudic scholar and rabbi from Galicia, known for his commentaries on the Talmud and Jewish law.
While the name Zeriah is less common in modern times, it has a rich historical significance and connections to Jewish culture and religious traditions, reflecting its ancient Semitic roots and association with concepts of light, dawn, and spiritual illumination.
People
Zeriah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zeriah 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
Zeriah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zeriah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 318 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zeriah 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 1,077,844 US residents.
Is Zeriah a common name?
We classify Zeriah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 321 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zeriah most popular?
The single biggest year for Zeriah was 2010, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zeriah is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zeriah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 263 people with the name Zeriah, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,158 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Zeriah in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Zeriah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zeriah leans strongly female. 227 people counted with this name were female (87.6%), compared with 32 male bearers (12.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Zeriah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zeriah is Hispanic at 31.6%. The next largest groups are Black (31.2%) and White (16.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Zeriah most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Zeriah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 31.6% (83 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
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 Zeriah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zeriah a female name?
Yes, 98.4% of people registered as Zeriah in the SSA data are female. 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 Zeriah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zeriah 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 Zeriah 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.
How many people are called Zeriah?
You can see how many Americans are named Zeriah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.