Jermiah
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "appointed by God" or "God exalts".
Name Census estimates that about 3,198 living Americans carry the first name Jermiah. It is a predominantly male name (96.3% of registrations). The average person named Jermiah today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jermiah births was 2010 (169 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jermiah. 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 Jermiah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jermiah is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 125 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
3.2K
~ 1 in 107,178 Americans
Peak year
2010
169 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,307
Tracked since 1916
Census
Jermiah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,172 people with the first name Jermiah, which placed it at #5,431 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
#5,431
National first-name rank
People counted
3.2K
3,172 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
51.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jermiah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jermiah is Black at 51.2%. The next largest groups are White (23.3%) and Hispanic (17.1%). 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 Jermiah 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 Jermiah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American51.2% · 1,624
- White23.3% · 738
- Hispanic or Latino17.1% · 542
- Two or more races4.6% · 146
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 70
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 52
Gender
Gender distribution for Jermiah
Jermiah leans heavily male at 96.3% of total registrations, but 125 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jermiah as a male name
- Ranked #5,307 in 2024
- 18 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2010 (164 births)
Jermiah as a female name
- Ranked #17,396 in 2016
- 5 female births in 2016
- Peak: 2008 (19 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jermiah leans strongly male. 3,023 people counted with this name were male (95.5%), compared with 141 female bearers (4.5%).
Popularity
Jermiah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jermiah from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,207 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
Jermiah 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 Jermiah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jermiahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. Texas, Florida, California recorded the most babies named Jermiah, while Wisconsin, Maryland, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 46 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jermiah
The name Jermiah has its origins in Hebrew and is derived from the biblical name Yirmeyahu. It is a theophoric name, meaning "Yahweh has uplifted" or "Yahweh has appointed." The name can be traced back to the 7th century BC, when the prophet Jeremiah lived in ancient Judah.
The biblical Book of Jeremiah, part of the Old Testament, is named after the prophet and provides insight into his life and teachings. Jeremiah was a prominent figure who spoke out against the rulers of Judah and warned of the impending destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jermiah dates back to the 6th century BC. A Babylonian cuneiform inscription mentions a Jewish exile named Yirmeyahu, which is the original Hebrew form of the name.
In the New Testament, the Greek form of the name, Ieremias, is used to refer to the prophet Jeremiah. This version of the name was adopted by early Christian communities and helped spread its use throughout Europe.
Among the notable historical figures who bore the name Jermiah are Jeremiah of Wallachia (c. 1530-1597), a Prince of Wallachia; Jeremiah Horrocks (1619-1641), an English astronomer who predicted the transit of Venus; and Jeremiah Clarke (c. 1674-1707), an English composer known for his keyboard works and the famous "Prince of Denmark's March."
The name Jermiah gained further popularity in the 17th and 18th centuries, particularly among Puritans and Protestant communities influenced by the Bible. Notable individuals from this period include Jeremiah Dummer (1681-1739), an American-born English writer and colonial agent, and Jeremiah Dixon (1733-1779), an English surveyor and astronomer who helped establish the Mason-Dixon line.
Throughout history, the name Jermiah has been associated with religious figures, scholars, and individuals who made significant contributions to their respective fields. Its biblical origins and meaning have contributed to its enduring popularity across different cultures and traditions.
People
Jermiah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jermiah 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
Jermiah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jermiah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,198 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jermiah 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 107,178 US residents.
Is Jermiah a common name?
We classify Jermiah as "Rare". It ranks above 95.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,344 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jermiah most popular?
The single biggest year for Jermiah was 2010, when 169 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jermiah is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jermiah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,172 people with the name Jermiah, or 1.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,431 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 Jermiah 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 Jermiah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jermiah leans strongly male. 3,023 people counted with this name were male (95.5%), compared with 141 female bearers (4.5%). 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 Jermiah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jermiah is Black at 51.2%. The next largest groups are White (23.3%) and Hispanic (17.1%). 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 Jermiah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jermiah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.2% (1,624 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 Jermiah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jermiah a male name?
Yes, 96.3% of people registered as Jermiah 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 Jermiah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jermiah 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 Jermiah 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 share the name Jermiah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.