Neviah
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "prophetess" or "messenger of God".
Name Census estimates that about 371 living Americans carry the first name Neviah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Neviah today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Neviah births was 2007 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Neviah. 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 Neviah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
371
~ 1 in 923,866 Americans
Peak year
2007
30 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,820
Tracked since 2001
Census
Neviah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 306 people with the first name Neviah, which placed it at #29,088 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
#29,088
National first-name rank
People counted
306
306 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
32.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Neviah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Neviah is Black at 32.7%. The next largest groups are White (28.8%) and Hispanic (26.5%). 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 Neviah 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 Neviah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American32.7% · 100
- White28.8% · 88
- Hispanic or Latino26.5% · 81
- Two or more races9.5% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 4
Popularity
Neviah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Neviah 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 170 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Neviah 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 Neviah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Neviahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Neviah, while Texas, California, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Neviah
The name Neviah is derived from the Hebrew name Nevi'ah, which means "prophetess" or "female prophet." The name has its origins in ancient Israelite culture and the Hebrew language, dating back to biblical times.
In the Hebrew Bible, the term "nevi'ah" refers to women who were considered to be prophets, often serving as advisers or messengers of God. One of the most notable examples is the prophetess Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, who is celebrated in the Book of Exodus for leading the women in song and dance after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea.
The name Neviah has been historically associated with spiritual wisdom, insight, and a connection to the divine. It was not uncommon for women with this name to be respected for their intuitive abilities and perceived as having a special connection to the spiritual realm.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Neviah can be found in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism, where it is mentioned in reference to a female scholar and interpreter of Jewish law. This suggests that the name was in use among Jewish communities during the early centuries of the Common Era.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Neviah. For example, Neviah bat Hanan was a renowned Jewish scholar and poet who lived in the 6th century CE in the Byzantine Empire. Her works, which explored religious themes and Jewish mysticism, were highly influential in her time.
Another notable figure was Neviah ben Yitzchak, a 12th-century Jewish philosopher and mystic from Spain. Despite the masculine form of her name, she was a woman who made significant contributions to the study of Kabbalah, a branch of Jewish mysticism.
In the 19th century, Neviah Yehudis was a prominent activist and advocate for women's rights in the Jewish community of Palestine. She worked tirelessly to promote education and equal opportunities for women, leaving a lasting impact on the nascent Zionist movement.
More recently, Neviah Moshe was a respected artist and sculptor from Israel, born in 1923. Her works, which often featured biblical themes and motifs, were widely acclaimed and can be found in museums and public spaces around the world.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who have carried the name Neviah, reflecting its deep roots in Jewish culture and its association with spiritual wisdom, prophecy, and artistic expression.
People
Neviah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Neviah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Neviah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Neviah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 371 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Neviah 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 923,866 US residents.
Is Neviah a common name?
We classify Neviah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 375 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Neviah most popular?
The single biggest year for Neviah was 2007, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Neviah is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Neviah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 306 people with the name Neviah, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,088 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 Neviah 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 Neviah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Neviah leans strongly female. 297 people counted with this name were female (97.7%), compared with 7 male bearers (2.3%). 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 Neviah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Neviah is Black at 32.7%. The next largest groups are White (28.8%) and Hispanic (26.5%). 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 Neviah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Neviah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 32.7% (100 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 Neviah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Neviah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Neviah 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 Neviah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Neviah 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 Neviah 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 Neviah?
Find out how many Americans are named Neviah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.