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Obadiah

#1,630 in 2025Boys' name

Servant of Yahweh

Obadiah has been given to 2,521 babies in the U.S. since 1914. In 2025 it ranked #1,630 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 131 recorded.

Babies named Obadiah, 2025

1 in 31,900

Obadiah over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Obadiah: meaning, origin, and history

Servant of Yahweh

Hebrew

What Obadiah means

Obadiah means “servant of Yahweh”, associated with Ovadya.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Hebrew עובדיה (Ovadya, “servant of Yahweh”); comparable to Arabic عبد اللّٰه (ʕabd-allah, “servant of God”).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Obadiah (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Obadiah is used in English. Its origins include Hebrew.

Obadiah comes through Hebrew עובדיה.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Obadiah is pronounced /ˌoʊbəˈdaɪə/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,521 boys were recorded with the name Obadiah between 1914 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 131 in 2024; its best national rank was #1,414 in 2024.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,566 in 2020 to #1,630 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,689 in 2015 to #1,630 in 2025.

How common is Obadiah?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 31,900
104 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 16,400
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,630
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
22,096 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Obadiah sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5002%

Put another way: gather 22,096 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Obadiah. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Obadiahs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Obadiah was born before 2013 — so the typical Obadiah is around 12 today.

Median birth year
2013
About 12 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
32.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
71.3%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
2,388
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 32.1% of all recorded uses (810).

Is Obadiah rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−216
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−64
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+59
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.12×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
79.4%
Peak was 2024 (131)
Years since peak
1
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
13.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,414
2024

Spellings of Obadiah

Obadiah is the most-used spelling, taking 69.4% of the 3,633 babies given a near-identical spelling.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Obadiah is used

Across 2016–2025, Obadiah was most concentrated in Washington — about 1 in 9,091 boys, against 1 in 21,513 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in 50,000).

211 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Washington1 in 9,091
  2. 2Michigan1 in 11,111
  3. 3Indiana1 in 14,286
  4. 4Minnesota1 in 14,286
  5. 5Oregon1 in 14,286
  6. 6Missouri1 in 16,667
  7. 7California1 in 20,000
  8. 8Colorado1 in 20,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Obadiah around the world

Where Obadiah ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2006–2025
    #2,269
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2013–2024
    #3,231
    in 2024

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Obadiah

People whose public names include Obadiah, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Obadiah by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,630
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 64
Best rank ever
#1,414
2024
Peak year
2024
131 that year
First recorded
1914
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,521
Count in 2025
104

Names similar to Obadiah

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

BenaiahJessiahMicaiahJermiahMassiahElijiahJahsiahJeriahAsaiahAzariahAzaiahJedediahJesiahAmaziahIssiahJaziahJoesiahJeramiahJerimiahMasiahJoziahUzziahZebadiahIssaiah

Names with a curve like Obadiah

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Obadiah, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

SultanUmarSteeleIsaShalomYasinSirRenzoCedarIssaAkivaAris

Sibling names for Obadiah

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Obadiah

Top names of 2024, Obadiah's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2024Boys' names starting with O