Messiah
Meaning
"anointed one"
The story
Messiah is the boldest kind of name a family can give, the Hebrew mashiach, the anointed one, taken straight from theology to the birth certificate. It is genuinely new as an American name: 41 babies in the 1970s, about 350 in the 1990s, 2,500 in the 2000s, then 13,400 in the 2010s and 11,700 so far this decade. It belongs to the same rising register as King, Saint and Sincere, names that state a hope out loud rather than encode it. The name made national news in 2013 when a Tennessee judge ordered one baby's Messiah changed; the ruling was overturned, the judge was removed from the case, and the name kept climbing. Our records file it overwhelmingly with boys, about 27,100 to 1,000. Families who choose it are not being subtle, and that is precisely the point.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Messiah peaked in the 2020s.
When you meet Messiah
Most people given the name Messiah in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Messiah deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Messiah 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 Messiah fits with your family’s names and surname.
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