Isiah
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "salvation of the Lord."
Name Census estimates that about 19,637 living Americans carry the first name Isiah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Isiah today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Isiah births was 2001 (822 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Isiah. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Isiah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
20K
~ 1 in 17,455 Americans
Peak year
2001
822 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,310
Tracked since 1880
Census
Isiah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 17,464 people with the first name Isiah, which placed it at #1,736 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
#1,736
National first-name rank
People counted
17K
17,464 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
45.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Isiah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Isiah is Black at 45.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.7%) and White (16.1%). 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 Isiah 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 Isiah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American45.8% · 7,995
- Hispanic or Latino25.7% · 4,482
- White16.1% · 2,808
- Two or more races8.7% · 1,512
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 400
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 267
Gender
Gender distribution for Isiah
Out of the 24,598 babies given the name Isiah since 1880, 100.0% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Isiah as a male name
- Ranked #1,310 in 2024
- 148 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2001 (822 births)
Isiah as a female name
- Ranked #16,710 in 2003
- 5 female births in 2003
- Peak: 1996 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Isiah appears almost entirely male. Of the 17,463 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Isiah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Isiah from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 7,047 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Isiah 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 Isiah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Isiahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. New York, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Isiah, while Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 421 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Isiah
The name Isiah has its roots in the Hebrew language, originating from the biblical name Yeshayahu, which means "Yahweh is salvation" or "the Lord is salvation." This name can be traced back to ancient times, with references found in the Old Testament of the Bible.
One of the earliest and most notable figures associated with the name Isiah is the biblical prophet Isaiah, who lived in the 8th century BC. His prophecies and teachings are recorded in the Book of Isaiah, a significant part of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament.
In the Middle Ages, the name Isiah gained popularity among Jewish communities, particularly in Europe. It was often used as a variant spelling of the more common Hebrew name Yeshayahu. During this period, the name spread across various regions and cultures, adapting to different languages and spelling variations.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals bearing the name Isiah. One of the earliest examples is Isiah ben Abraham Halevi, a 13th-century Jewish scholar and poet from Spain. Another prominent figure was Isiah ben Mali di Trani, also known as the Rid, a renowned Italian rabbi and Talmudic scholar who lived in the 16th century.
In more recent times, the name Isiah has been associated with several influential individuals. One of the most famous is Isiah Thomas, an American former professional basketball player who was born in 1961. He was a member of the Detroit Pistons and led the team to two NBA championships in 1989 and 1990.
Another notable Isiah is Isiah Whitlock Jr., an American actor born in 1954, best known for his role as Senator Clay Davis in the HBO series "The Wire" and his appearances in various films and television shows.
Isiah Leggett, an American politician born in 1944, served as the County Executive of Montgomery County, Maryland, from 2006 to 2018, and was the first African American to hold this position.
In the world of music, Isiah Sheffer, a British singer-songwriter born in 1963, gained recognition for his contributions to the UK dance and pop scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
These are just a few examples of the individuals who have carried the name Isiah throughout history, reflecting its enduring presence across various cultures and time periods.
People
Isiah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Isiah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Isiah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Isiah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 19,637 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Isiah 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 17,455 US residents.
Is Isiah a common name?
We classify Isiah as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 24,598 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Isiah most popular?
The single biggest year for Isiah was 2001, when 822 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Isiah is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Isiah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 17,464 people with the name Isiah, or 5.78 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,736 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 Isiah 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 Isiah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Isiah appears almost entirely male. Of the 17,463 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Isiah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Isiah is Black at 45.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.7%) and White (16.1%). 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 Isiah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Isiah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.8% (7,995 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 Isiah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Isiah a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Isiah 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 Isiah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Isiah 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 Isiah 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 Isiah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.