Uriah
Meaning
the Lord is my light
The story
Uriah comes from the Hebrew Uriyah, meaning Yahweh is my light. The best-known biblical bearer is Uriah the Hittite, a loyal soldier whom King David sends to his death after taking Uriah's wife Bathsheba. That makes the name's story morally complicated: Uriah is remembered not for wrongdoing of his own, but for the betrayal done to him. English Protestants began using the name after the Reformation, and Charles Dickens later gave it a very different association through the scheming Uriah Heep in David Copperfield. American records show a name that survives those references and is now finding new use. The curve is scattered and low for most of the twentieth century, rises modestly in the 1990s and 2000s, and reaches its strongest level in the 2010s and 2020s. Uri offers a shorter related sound, while Uriah keeps the full biblical form.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Uriah peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
52 people · the #64,892 first name in Brazil · median age 5
The census also counted 21 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Uriah
Most people given the name Uriah 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 Uriah deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Uriah 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 Uriah fits with your family’s names and surname.
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