Uriah
Torn between Uriah and another name? Compare them side by side →
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.
How popular is Uriah around the world?
In the United States, 2,570 babies were named Uriah between 2020 and 2025.
Uriah is on the official records of the United States, Canada, England and Wales and Brazil.
United States
1 in 8,500
In the United States, 2,570 babies were named Uriah between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Uriah peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Canada
1 in 33,000
In Canada, 11 boys named Uriah were born in 2024, ranked 1,817th among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
England and Wales
1 in 98,000
In England and Wales, 6 boys named Uriah were born in 2025, ranked 3,256th among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Argentina
last on record 2015
Uriah is not on the 2024 record for Argentina, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 7 in a year, too few to chart.
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 52 people in Brazil were named Uriah, ranked 64,892nd, with a median age of 5.
The census also counted 21 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
South Australia
last on record 2015
Uriah is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Puerto Rico, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
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.
Does Uriah fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Uriah to your family’s tree →