A Hebrew name meaning Yahweh will exalt
Jeremiah comes from Hebrew Yirmeyahu and means “Yahweh will exalt.” It combines a root meaning “to exalt” with an element referring to the Hebrew God. The English name keeps the extended ending familiar from several biblical names, with the main stress on its my syllable.
Its best-known early bearer is the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremy is a related English form that was occasionally used from the thirteenth century, while the full Jeremiah became more common in England after the Protestant Reformation. The two forms share a history but developed different everyday rhythms.
Jeremiah in the biblical story
The Book of Jeremiah combines prophecy, history, and accounts of the prophet's life. It places him in the final decades of the kingdom of Judah, when Babylon's growing power threatened Jerusalem. Jeremiah came from a priestly family in Anathoth, near the city.
His story begins during the reign of Josiah and continues through political conflict, imprisonment, and the destruction of Jerusalem in the sixth century BC. He opposed policies that he believed would bring disaster and repeatedly found himself at odds with rulers and other prophetic voices.
The book's concern with judgment, exile, and hope gave Jeremiah a lasting place in Jewish and Christian reading. Its combination of public crisis and a vividly presented individual also helps explain why the personal name remained recognizable across many later languages and traditions.
Jeremiah Dixon and a boundary survey
English surveyor and astronomer Jeremiah Dixon supplies a different historical connection. He worked with Charles Mason on the survey that established the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland during the 1760s. Their surnames became joined in the familiar Mason-Dixon Line.
The work addressed a long-running dispute over the limits of colonial land grants. Surveying required turning competing claims into a measured boundary on the ground, rather than simply drawing a line on a map. The survey carried out from 1763 to 1767 left a lasting geographic record of the two men's collaboration.
Dixon's given name places Jeremiah within the history of practical astronomy and surveying as well as its much older religious setting. The better-known combined surname can obscure the Jeremiah behind the Dixon half of the line.
Pronunciation and related forms
English Jeremiah is pronounced jerr-ih-MY-uh, normally with four syllables and the strongest stress on the third. Jeremy is the most familiar shorter English relative. The full Jeremiah preserves the longer final sequence of vowels and has a more expansive rhythm.
Yirmeyahu is the Hebrew form behind the English name. Jeremiah and Jeremy are therefore historically connected, rather than simply names that happen to share an opening sound.
Popularity in the United States
Jeremiah's largest American male count came in 2010, with 7,743 births. Its best rank followed in 2011, at number 49. It ranked number 54 in 2015 and number 74 in 2020. In 2025 it ranked number 88, with 3,840 births, remaining within the American top one hundred.
Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution
Meaning and history draw on the references below. American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling; counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.
How popular is Jeremiah?
In 2025, Jeremiah ranked #88 among boys in the United States, with 3,840 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1880; its largest annual count was 7,743 in 2010. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.