Zebadiah
Of Hebrew origin, meaning "gift of God" or "the Lord has bestowed".
Name Census estimates that about 1,054 living Americans carry the first name Zebadiah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zebadiah today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zebadiah births was 2001 (49 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zebadiah. 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
1.1K
~ 1 in 325,194 Americans
Peak year
2001
49 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,687
Tracked since 1974
Census
Zebadiah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 729 people with the first name Zebadiah, which placed it at #15,699 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
#15,699
National first-name rank
People counted
729
729 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zebadiah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zebadiah is White at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Black (8.8%) and Hispanic (8.5%). 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 Zebadiah 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 Zebadiah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.1% · 533
- Black or African American8.8% · 64
- Hispanic or Latino8.5% · 62
- Two or more races6.4% · 47
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 9
Popularity
Zebadiah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zebadiah 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 252 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Zebadiah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zebadiah 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 Zebadiah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zebadiahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, New York, Ohio recorded the most babies named Zebadiah, while Texas, Tennessee, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zebadiah
The name Zebadiah has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture. It is a Hebrew biblical name derived from the elements "zebadyah" meaning "gift of the Lord" or "dowry of God". The earliest recorded spelling was Zebadyah.
The name is found in the Bible, appearing in the Book of Ezra as Zebadiah, who was one of the sons of Immer, a priest who returned to Jerusalem from Babylonian exile. This reference dates back to around the 5th century BC.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Zebadiah, an English Puritan who was born in 1608 in Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire. He later emigrated to New England in the 1630s and settled in Massachusetts.
In the 17th century, a prominent figure named Zebadiah Whitehead (1617-1696) was a Quaker preacher and author from England. He wrote several religious works and was known for his opposition to the Church of England.
Another notable bearer of the name was Zebadiah Swindells (1768-1828), an English industrialist and textile manufacturer from Manchester. He played a significant role in the development of the cotton industry during the Industrial Revolution.
In the 19th century, Zebadiah Turrentine (1831-1892) was an American farmer and politician from North Carolina. He served as a member of the North Carolina House of Commons and was involved in the state's agricultural affairs.
Zebadiah Chandler (1833-1904) was an American politician and businessman from Michigan. He served as a United States Senator and was also the Secretary of the Interior under President Ulysses S. Grant's administration.
People
Zebadiah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zebadiah 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
Zebadiah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zebadiah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,054 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zebadiah 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 325,194 US residents.
Is Zebadiah a common name?
We classify Zebadiah as "Rare". It ranks above 90.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,080 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zebadiah most popular?
The single biggest year for Zebadiah was 2001, when 49 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zebadiah is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zebadiah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 729 people with the name Zebadiah, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,699 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 Zebadiah 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 Zebadiah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zebadiah appears almost entirely male. Of the 723 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Zebadiah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zebadiah is White at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Black (8.8%) and Hispanic (8.5%). 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 Zebadiah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Zebadiah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.1% (533 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 Zebadiah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zebadiah a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zebadiah 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 Zebadiah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zebadiah 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 Zebadiah 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 Zebadiah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.