Zachariah
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "the Lord has remembered".
Name Census estimates that about 29,870 living Americans carry the first name Zachariah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zachariah today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zachariah births was 1992 (874 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zachariah. 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 Zachariah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
30K
~ 1 in 11,475 Americans
Peak year
1992
874 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#569
Tracked since 1880
Census
Zachariah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 20,722 people with the first name Zachariah, which placed it at #1,569 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
#1,569
National first-name rank
People counted
21K
20,722 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zachariah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zachariah is White at 65.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.8%) and Black (11.5%). 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 Zachariah 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 Zachariah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.4% · 13,555
- Hispanic or Latino11.8% · 2,437
- Black or African American11.5% · 2,390
- Two or more races7.3% · 1,519
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 508
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 313
Gender
Gender distribution for Zachariah
Out of the 30,705 babies given the name Zachariah since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Zachariah as a male name
- Ranked #569 in 2024
- 512 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1992 (874 births)
Zachariah as a female name
- Ranked #19,771 in 2010
- 5 female births in 2010
- Peak: 1983 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zachariah appears almost entirely male. Of the 20,718 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Zachariah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zachariah from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 7,645 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Zachariah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zachariah 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 Zachariah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zachariahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Zachariah, while Vermont, New Hampshire, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 591 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zachariah
The name Zachariah has its origins in the Hebrew language and is derived from the biblical name Zechariah, which means "God has remembered" or "the Lord remembers." This name can be traced back to the Old Testament of the Bible, where it was borne by several figures, including the prophet Zechariah and the father of John the Baptist.
In the Bible, the Book of Zechariah is one of the twelve minor prophets, written in the late 6th century BC. The prophet Zechariah is known for his visions and prophecies concerning the restoration of Jerusalem and the coming of the Messiah. The name Zechariah/Zachariah was likely popular among the Israelites during this time period and in the subsequent centuries.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Zachariah can be found in the New Testament of the Bible, where it is mentioned as the name of the father of John the Baptist. According to the Gospel of Luke, Zachariah was a priest who was struck mute for doubting the angel Gabriel's prophecy that his wife, Elizabeth, would bear a son in their old age.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Zachariah or its variations. One of the most famous was Zacharias Ursinus (1534-1583), a German Protestant theologian and one of the principal authors of the Heidelberg Catechism, a influential Reformed confession of faith.
Another notable Zachariah was Zacharias Janssen (1585-1638), a Dutch spectacle-maker who is credited with the invention of the first compound microscope. His discovery paved the way for countless advancements in the field of microscopy and scientific observation.
In the world of literature, Zachary Macaulay (1768-1838) was a British historian, essayist, and abolitionist who played a significant role in the campaign to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire.
Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) was the 12th President of the United States, serving from 1849 until his death in 1850. He was a career military officer who earned fame as a commander in the Mexican-American War before his election to the presidency.
Zachary Macaulay (1768-1838) was a British historian, essayist, and abolitionist who played a significant role in the campaign to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Zachariah or its variations, showcasing the name's longevity and its use across different cultures and time periods.
People
Zachariah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zachariah 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
Zachariah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zachariah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 29,870 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zachariah 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 11,475 US residents.
Is Zachariah a common name?
We classify Zachariah as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 30,705 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zachariah most popular?
The single biggest year for Zachariah was 1992, when 874 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zachariah 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 Zachariah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 20,722 people with the name Zachariah, or 6.86 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,569 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 Zachariah 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 Zachariah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zachariah appears almost entirely male. Of the 20,718 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Zachariah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zachariah is White at 65.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.8%) and Black (11.5%). 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 Zachariah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Zachariah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.4% (13,555 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 Zachariah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zachariah a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Zachariah 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 Zachariah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zachariah 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 Zachariah 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 common is the name Zachariah?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Zachariah at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.