Jeremiah
Jeremiah was the 88th most popular name for boys in 2025, given to 3,840 babies. Its best year was 2011, when it ranked 49th; the most babies were born in 2010 (7,743). Over the last ten years it has moved down 34 places. More babies were named Jeremiah in the 2010s than in any other decade.
Meaning God exalts · Hebrew
Say it jair-uh-MY-uh /ˌdʒɛrəˈmaɪə/
- Rank in 2025
- #88 boys, down 14 places since 2020
- Babies in 2025
- 3,840boys
- Girls and boys
- Almost always a boy’s name2021–2025
- Peak year
- 20107,743 babies
- Total since 1880
- 226,373babies recorded
What does the name Jeremiah mean?
Jeremiah is the English form of Hebrew Yirmeyahu, the name of the prophet who warned Jerusalem before its fall to Babylon and whose book bears his name. The name joins a verb meaning 'to raise up' with a short form of the divine name, so DMNES (under Jeremy) and Wiktionary give 'God exalts'. Jeremy is the older English form, used in the Wycliffite Bible of 1395; Jeremiah, closer to the Latin Jeremias, became the usual Bible spelling and was taken up by Puritans.
יִרְמְיָהוּ (Biblical Hebrew, “Yirmeyahu”)רום (Hebrew, “be high, raise up”)
How sure is this? Probable. 'God exalts' is the usual reading; other Hebrew roots have been proposed for the first element.
Related names: Jeremy, Jeremias, Jerry, Yirmiyahu.
See also: Hebrew names, names that mean God.
Sources for this meaning
- Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources, ed. S. L. Uckelman, Edition 2023 no. 1, s.v. 'Jeremy', Durham University / The DMNES Editors
- Hebrew Bible, Jeremiah 1:1, JPS translation with notes (via Sefaria), Sefaria; verse reference and facts only, not quoted
- Wiktionary, entry 'Jeremiah', Wiktionary (Wikimedia Foundation); facts restated, no text reused
Nicknames for Jeremiah
The usual nicknames for Jeremiah are Jerry. Some parents skip the long form: for every 100 boys named Jeremiah in the last five years, 8 were named Jerry, against 22 twenty years earlier.
| Nickname | Kind | Rank 2025 | Boys, 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jerry · also for Jeremias, Jeremy, Gerald | Traditional | #907 | 1,523 |
Nicknames reviewed by our editors; counts are boys given the nickname as their legal first name. Nobody records how many Jeremiahs go by each one.
Jeremiah popularity since 1880
A few girls are given the name too: 699 since 1973, 9 in 2025.
| Year | Rank (boys) | Babies (boys) |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #88 | 3,840 |
| 2020 | #74 | 4,602 |
| 2010 | #51 | 7,743 |
| 2000 | #102 | 3,643 |
| 1990 | #154 | 2,008 |
| 1980 | #76 | 4,093 |
| 1970 | #553 | 217 |
| 1960 | #634 | 151 |
| 1950 | #525 | 164 |
| 1940 | #539 | 119 |
| 1930 | #531 | 127 |
| 1920 | #541 | 129 |
| 1910 | #466 | 35 |
| 1900 | #327 | 43 |
| 1890 | #292 | 35 |
| 1880 | #278 | 37 |
How popular is Jeremiah, counting every spelling?
Jeremiah has no other common spelling that sounds the same. Counting every name's spellings together, it ranks #95 for boys in 2025, against #88 on the official list, because Kayden/Kaiden/Caden and Nicholas/Nicolas and Elliot/Elliott/Eliot move ahead once their spellings are combined.
How many kids will share the name Jeremiah?
3,840 of the 3,606,400 babies born in the US in 2025 were named Jeremiah (1.06 per 1,000 births). For a boy named Jeremiah born in 2025, the chance that another child with the same name is in a class of 20 children the same age is about 1 in 50. If every grade liked the name as much as the 2025 babies do, only about one elementary school in 2 (of 430 pupils) would have a child named Jeremiah.
Shares of all registered births (NCHS); classes assumed to be children born the same year. How we estimate this.
How old are people named Jeremiah?
About 214,300 people born in the US named Jeremiah are alive today, with a median age of 19; half are between 11 and 33. That makes Jeremiah mostly worn by children and young adults.
Babies given the name each year (SSA) times the share of that birth year still alive (SSA life tables). Counts people born in the US only. Method.
Jeremiah by state
How common Jeremiah was among boys born in each state in 2021–2025. It is notably more common than nationally in Hawaii (2.5×), New Mexico (2.5×), Rhode Island (2.0×), Delaware (1.8×), Alaska (1.7×). It is least common, relative to the national rate, in Wyoming, New Hampshire, Maine.
Names with a similar history
These names rose and fell in step with Jeremiah: their share of US boys followed the most similar curve since 1880. If you like Jeremiah, they share its era and feel.
Middle names for Jeremiah · Sibling names for Jeremiah
Questions about the name Jeremiah
What does Jeremiah mean?
Jeremiah means “God exalts” (Hebrew origin). Certainty: probable.
How popular is the name Jeremiah?
Jeremiah was the 88th most popular name for boys in 2025, given to 3,840 babies. Its best year was 2011, when it ranked 49th; the most babies were born in 2010 (7,743). Over the last ten years it has moved down 34 places. More babies were named Jeremiah in the 2010s than in any other decade.
Is Jeremiah a boy or girl name?
In 2021–2025, almost always a boy’s name given the name Jeremiah in the US.
Where is Jeremiah most popular?
In 2021–2025, Jeremiah was most common in Hawaii (5.67 per 1,000 boys), followed by New Mexico and Rhode Island.