Zachariah

About Zachariah

Zachariah is an English biblical form of Zechariah, meaning “God remembers.” Its four-syllable rhythm makes it longer than Zachary, while short forms such as Zack provide a familiar everyday option. The exact spelling appears in the King James Bible and in the name of nineteenth-century politician Zachariah Chandler.

Meaning and related names

The Hebrew name combines zakhar, meaning “to remember,” with a reference to Yahweh, the God of Israel. Zechariah and Zachariah represent closely related English spellings of that older name.

Zacharias is the Greek-derived form familiar in Christian tradition. Zachary is a shorter English development, while French Zacharie, Italian Zaccaria, and Spanish Zacarías belong to the wider family.

Zachariah is pronounced zak-uh-RYE-uh. The main emphasis falls on RYE, giving the name a rising rhythm after its opening syllables. Zack, Zach, and Zak are familiar short forms in the same family.

A king and other biblical bearers

The King James Version uses Zachariah for a king of Israel who is called Zechariah in many other translations. In 2 Kings 15, he is identified as the son of Jeroboam.

His reign in Samaria lasts six months before Shallum conspires against him and kills him. The brief account gives this exact spelling a specific place in the biblical history of Israel's kings.

Other people in the broader name family include the prophet associated with the Book of Zechariah and the New Testament father of John the Baptist. They are separate figures, rather than different descriptions of the same man.

The New Testament father is a priest married to Elizabeth. The narrative of John's birth and the older prophetic and royal uses helped keep this name family recognizable across Jewish and Christian traditions.

Zachariah Chandler and American government

Zachariah Chandler represented Michigan in the United States Senate from 1857 to 1875. His service therefore spanned the Civil War and much of Reconstruction.

After that Senate period, he became the twelfth United States secretary of the interior. He held the cabinet office from 1875 to 1877 under President Ulysses S. Grant.

Chandler returned to the Senate in February 1879 and served until his death in November of the same year. His career connects the exact Zachariah spelling with both a long Senate tenure and a period in the executive branch.

His full name also illustrates how a lengthy biblical given name remained part of formal American public life in the nineteenth century.

American popularity

Zachariah's largest published annual count and strongest United States ranking for boys came in 1992, with 874 births at #305.

The spelling remained in regular use, with 700 boys in 2000 and 603 in 2010. In 2025, 558 boys received the name, ranking #538.

That pattern shows continuing use over several decades, at a lower level than its early-1990s high point. The figures count Zachariah separately from Zechariah and the shorter Zachary.

How popular is Zachariah?

In 2025, Zachariah ranked #538 among boys in the United States, with 558 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1880; its largest annual count was 874 in 1992. 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.