How popular is the baby name Jeremiah in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Jeremiah.

The graph will take a few moments to load. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take 9 months!) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.


Popularity of the baby name Jeremiah


Posts that mention the name Jeremiah

What popularized the baby name Jerrica in the 1980s?

The character Jem from from the animated TV series "Jem" (1985-1988).
Jem from “Jem“

Ready for a pair of truly outrageous baby names?

The animated TV series Jem, which began airing in late 1985, focused on an all-girl rock band called Jem and the Holograms.

Jem was the lead singer, and she had a big secret: she didn’t really exist! “Jem” was just the alter-ego of a woman named Jerrica Benton, who used a powerful holographic computer (called Synergy) and a pair of hi-tech earrings to have the “Jem” hologram projected over her.

The Name Jem

Before Jem, there had been girls named Gem and boys named Jem (short for Jeremy/Jeremiah/James). But only in 1986 do baby girls named Jem start popping up in the U.S. baby name data:

  • 1989: 6 baby girls named Jem
  • 1988: 9 baby girls named Jem
  • 1987: 11 baby girls named Jem
  • 1986: 5 baby girls named Jem [debut]
  • 1985: unlisted
  • 1984: unlisted
The character Jerrica Benton from the animated TV series "Jem" (1985-1988).
Jerrica from “Jem“

The Name Jerrica

The Jessica-like name Jerrica was in use well before the cartoon started airing, but without Jem it might never have cracked the top 1,000:

  • 1989: 402 baby girls named Jerrica [ranked 558th]
  • 1988: 437 baby girls named Jerrica [ranked 506th]
  • 1987: 318 baby girls named Jerrica [ranked 607th]
  • 1986: 199 baby girls named Jerrica [ranked 836th]
  • 1985: 64 baby girls named Jerrica
  • 1984: 45 baby girls named Jerrica

Jerrica managed to stay in the top 1,000 all the way through 1995. It’s still in the SSA data today, though the numbers aren’t too impressive anymore (i.e., only 27 baby girls were named Jerrica in 2009).

The names Jerica and Jerika also saw increased usage during this time. Other variants of Jerrica that debuted in the data in the mid-to-late ’80s include Jerryca, Jericca, Jherica/Jherrica (inspired by the Jheri curl?), Gerrica/Gerica/Gerika, and Jarrica/Jarica/Jarika/Jareka.

Source: Jem (TV series) – Wikipedia

[Other cartoon-inspired baby names: Aeon, Cheetara, Pebbles, Caillou]

California octuplets: Noah, Maliyah, Isaiah, Nariyah…

kinderfest

“Octomom” Nadya Suleman, the mother of the octuplets (6 boys, 2 girls) born in California in January of 2009, has finally revealed the names the babies. Here they are, by order of birth:

  1. Noah
  2. Maliyah (girl)
  3. Isaiah
  4. Nariyah (girl)
  5. Jonah
  6. Makai
  7. Josiah
  8. Jeremiah

(In early reports, the girls’ names were misspelled Maliah and Nariah, and Makai’s name was misspelled McCai.)

Five of the above are biblical, while the other three have a sort of biblical styling to them.

The names of Nadya’s older six children (4 boys, 2 girls) are…

  • Elijah (born in 2001)
  • Amerah (2002)
  • Joshua (2003)
  • Aidan (2005)
  • Calyssa (2006, twin)
  • Caleb (2006, twin)

Sources: Octuplets make American TV debut (Guardian, 2009), Her side of the story (NBC, 2009), Suleman octuplets – Wikipedia

Image: Ein Kinderfest (1868) by Ludwig Knaus

Popular baby names in New York City, 2007

Flag of New York
Flag of New York

According to New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the most popular baby names in the city last year were Isabella/Sophia (tied) and Daniel.

Here are New York City’s top 50+ girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2007:

Girl names

  1. Isabella, 539 baby girls (tie)
  2. Sophia, 539 (tie)
  3. Emily, 525
  4. Ashley, 480
  5. Sarah, 425
  6. Kayla, 414
  7. Mia, 381
  8. Olivia, 375
  9. Samantha, 368
  10. Rachel, 359
  11. Madison, 345
  12. Ava, 330
  13. Brianna, 316
  14. Emma, 286
  15. Sofia, 276
  16. Abigail, 272 (tie)
  17. Chloe, 272 (tie)
  18. Angelina, 265 (tie)
  19. Victoria, 265 (tie)
  20. Elizabeth, 261 (tie)
  21. Leah, 261 (tie)
  22. Nicole, 250
  23. Julia, 249
  24. Alexandra, 247
  25. Esther, 244
  26. Michelle, 234 (tie)
  27. Sara, 234 (tie)
  28. Alyssa, 231
  29. Maya, 227
  30. Gabriella, 223
  31. Jessica, 216
  32. Hannah, 202
  33. Arianna, 186
  34. Chaya, 184
  35. Ella, 182
  36. Anna, 179
  37. Katherine, 177
  38. Melanie, 176
  39. Natalie, 175
  40. Jada, 174
  41. Jasmine, 169 (tie)
  42. Sophie, 169 (tie)
  43. Miriam, 168
  44. Jennifer, 167
  45. Amanda, 164
  46. Grace, 160
  47. Zoe, 158
  48. Alexa, 156 (tie)
  49. Hailey, 156 (tie)
  50. Ariana, 154 (tie)
  51. Maria, 154 (tie)

Boy names

  1. Daniel, 865 baby boys
  2. Jayden, 846
  3. Michael, 801
  4. Matthew, 778
  5. Justin, 738
  6. Joshua, 719
  7. David, 705
  8. Anthony, 664
  9. Christopher, 652
  10. Joseph, 617
  11. Ryan, 576
  12. Ethan, 524
  13. Alexander, 503
  14. Kevin, 496
  15. Jacob, 474
  16. Brandon, 463
  17. Nicholas, 458
  18. Jonathan, 452
  19. John, 448
  20. Christian, 445
  21. William, 435
  22. Andrew, 424
  23. Jason, 414
  24. James, 377
  25. Elijah, 359
  26. Angel, 357
  27. Benjamin, 350
  28. Dylan, 347
  29. Samuel, 343
  30. Aaron, 334
  31. Gabriel, 327
  32. Eric, 301 (tie)
  33. Jaden, 301 (tie)
  34. Brian, 283
  35. Jack, 282
  36. Tyler, 276
  37. Noah, 269
  38. Jordan, 265
  39. Luis, 264
  40. Sebastian, 260
  41. Jose, 249
  42. Sean, 247
  43. Adam, 243
  44. Jeremiah, 242
  45. Henry, 239
  46. Isaiah, 238
  47. Thomas, 234
  48. Xavier, 232
  49. Bryan, 230
  50. Aidan, 228 (tie)
  51. Aiden, 228 (tie)

Jayden jumped from 10th place in 2006 to 2nd place in 2007, impressively.

If all the different spellings of Jayden (e.g., Jaden, Jaiden, Jadon, Jaeden, Jaydon, Jaidyn, Jaydan, Jaydin) had been counted together, in fact, the entire name-group would have easily overtaken Daniel with a grand total of more than 1,340 baby boys.

The top baby names within specific ethnic/racial groups were…

Top girl nameTop boy name
HispanicAshleyJayden
AsianSophiaRyan
Non-Hispanic WhiteSarahMichael
Non-Hispanic BlackMadisonJayden

Among the names given to just 10 babies each in NYC last year were the girl names Binta, Djeneba, Fraida, Rowan, and Suki, and the boy names Aditya, Karim, Milton, Shimshon, and Wolf.

One year earlier, NYC’s top names (overall) were Ashley and Michael.

Source: Popular Baby Names – NYC.gov (pdf)

Image: Adapted from Flag of New York (public domain)

[Latest update: Nov. 2025]

Most popular first letter-pairs of U.S. baby names

Mathematically speaking, it’s possible to construct 676 pairs of letters from a 26-letter alphabet. In terms of baby names, though, only a portion of these pairs can realistically be used to start a baby name.

If you look at each of the 6,692 names that have ever ranked among the most popular U.S. (1880-2006), you’ll notice that only 233 two-letter combinations have ever been used at the beginning of the names (e.g., “Na-” for Nancy, or “Ev-” for Evan).

So…what’s the most common pair of starting letters?

Ma– is the clear winner. It starts nearly twice as many names as Ja-, the second most common starting letter-pair.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown of all the two-letter combinations that have started at least 100 ranked baby names:

  • 331 “Ma-” names (Mark, Mandy, Matthias, Marylouise)
  • 177 “Ja-” names (Jane, Jacob, Jaleesa, Jamarion)
  • 174 “Al-” names (Alf, Alice, Alphonso, Albertina)
  • 167 “De-” names (Dean, Della, Devontae, Demetria)
  • 157 “Ka-” names (Karl, Katie, Kameron, Katharina)
  • 144 “Sh-” names (Shane, Sherman, Shanice, Sheridan)
  • 143 “Ca-” names (Cash, Cadence, Carmella, Casimiro)
  • 139 “Da-” names (Dave, Daisy, Damarcus, Dayanara)
  • 125 “El-” names (Elmo, Elyse, Elijah, Eleanora)
  • 121 “Ro-” names (Ross, Roxie, Roosevelt, Rosalinda)
  • 118 “Br-” names (Bruce, Brenda, Bryson, Brittany)
  • 118 “Ch-” names (Chad, Chantal, Christopher, Christiana)
  • 117 “La-” names (Lane, Laura, Lafayette, Lakeshia)
  • 113 “Le-” names (Les, Leah, Leandra, Leopoldo)
  • 102 “Je-” names (Jeff, Jewel, Jennifer, Jeremiah)
  • 101 “Jo-” names (John, Joanna, Joshua, Josefina)
  • 100 “Ar-” names (Art, Arla, Armani, Araceli)