Jeremiah
Meaning
"Yahweh will exalt," from Yirmeyahu, the prophet whose laments named a whole genre, the jeremiad; Puritans loved it, the frontier kept it, and it outlasted its 1970s revival cousin Jeremy. Weighty, warm, and fully modern in feel
Goes by Jerry
The story
Jeremiah is the Hebrew Yirmeyahu, traditionally read as Yahweh will exalt, borne by the prophet who lamented Jerusalem's fall so memorably that English named a whole genre of complaint, the jeremiad, after him. The Puritans loved names with that kind of weight, the American frontier kept the habit, and Jeremiah has never actually left the US records: it rode low but steady from the 1890s through the 1960s. When the 1970s made a star of the smoother Jeremy, Jeremiah rose in its shadow, then quietly outlasted it, climbing through the decades to a 2010s peak that the 2020s have barely dented. That patience suits the name. Millennia old and four syllables deep, it looks weighty on paper and turns out warm in practice, one of the rare biblical heavyweights that never needed a revival because it never fully went away.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Jeremiah peaked in the 2010s.
When you meet Jeremiah
Most people given the name Jeremiah in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Jeremiah deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Jeremiah truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Jeremiah fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Names like Jeremiah · Nicknames for Jeremiah · Middle names for Jeremiah
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