Jeremia
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "Yahweh exalts" or "God exalts".
Name Census estimates that about 696 living Americans carry the first name Jeremia. It is a predominantly male name (98.6% of registrations). The average person named Jeremia today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jeremia births was 2012 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jeremia. 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
696
~ 1 in 492,463 Americans
Peak year
2012
27 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,974
Tracked since 1973
Census
Jeremia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,063 people with the first name Jeremia, which placed it at #11,885 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
#11,885
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,063 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
39.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jeremia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeremia is Hispanic at 39.1%. The next largest groups are White (32.6%) and Black (17.8%). 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 Jeremia 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 Jeremia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino39.1% · 416
- White32.6% · 347
- Black or African American17.8% · 189
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 48
- Two or more races4.3% · 46
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 17
Gender
Gender distribution for Jeremia
Jeremia leans heavily male at 98.6% of total registrations, but 10 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jeremia as a male name
- Ranked #7,974 in 2024
- 10 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1978 (23 births)
Jeremia as a female name
- Ranked #18,045 in 2012
- 5 female births in 2012
- Peak: 2011 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jeremia leans strongly male. 969 people counted with this name were male (91.1%), compared with 95 female bearers (8.9%).
Popularity
Jeremia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jeremia from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 156 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Jeremia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jeremia 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 Jeremia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jeremias live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jeremia
The name Jeremia has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, emerging during biblical times. It is derived from the Hebrew name Yirmeyahu, which means "exalted by Yahweh" or "appointed by God." The name is closely associated with the biblical prophet Jeremiah, whose life and teachings are recorded in the Book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament.
One of the earliest and most notable figures bearing the name Jeremia was Jeremiah, the Hebrew prophet who lived in the 7th century BC during the turbulent times of the Babylonian invasion of Judah. He is revered as one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible and is known for his lamentations over the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the Israelites.
In the Middle Ages, the name Jeremia gained popularity among Christian communities, particularly in Europe. It was often given to individuals who were devoted to religious life or held positions within the church. An example is Saint Jeremia of Wallachia, a 14th-century Romanian monk and saint who founded several monasteries in the region.
During the Renaissance period, the name Jeremia was used by various scholars and artists. One notable figure was Jeremia Falck (1610-1677), a Swedish botanist and naturalist who made significant contributions to the study of plants and their classification.
In the 19th century, the name Jeremia was adopted by prominent figures in literature and academia. Jeremia Curtin (1835-1898) was an American translator and linguist who specialized in the study of Irish and Slavic languages, and published numerous works on folklore and mythology.
Another notable figure was Jeremia Donovan (1828-1908), an Irish-American lawyer and politician who served as the Mayor of Lowell, Massachusetts, and played a significant role in the development of the city's infrastructure and education system.
These are just a few examples of individuals who bore the name Jeremia throughout history, each leaving their mark in various fields, from religion and scholarship to politics and the arts. The name has endured across generations, carrying with it a sense of divine appointment and exaltation, reflecting its biblical origins.
People
Jeremia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jeremia as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jeremia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jeremia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 696 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jeremia 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 492,463 US residents.
Is Jeremia a common name?
We classify Jeremia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 716 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jeremia most popular?
The single biggest year for Jeremia was 2012, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jeremia is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jeremia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,063 people with the name Jeremia, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,885 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 Jeremia 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 Jeremia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jeremia leans strongly male. 969 people counted with this name were male (91.1%), compared with 95 female bearers (8.9%). 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 Jeremia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeremia is Hispanic at 39.1%. The next largest groups are White (32.6%) and Black (17.8%). 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 Jeremia most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Jeremia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 39.1% (416 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 Jeremia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jeremia a male name?
Yes, 98.6% of people registered as Jeremia 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 Jeremia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jeremia 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 Jeremia 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 have Jeremia as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Jeremia, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.