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Jedediah

Masculine · “beloved of the Lord”

1970high 1979
#2798 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare45 boys in 2025

Jedediah is a second name given by a prophet. In the book of Samuel, after Solomon is born, Nathan brings him a second name from the Lord — Jedidiah, the beloved of the Lord — and the text notes it and then never uses it again.

How old is the name Jedediah?

Jedediah first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Jedediah alive today was born around 1987, making them about 38 years old. About 3,200 people named Jedediah are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Jedediah most popular?

Jedediah peaked in 1979, reaching #542 nationally. Today it ranks #2798, 2,256 places below that high. See the whole 1979 chart.

Compare this nameMore “J” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Jedediah

The passage in Second Samuel is brief and strange: Solomon is born, and the prophet Nathan delivers a second name for him because the Lord loved him. Nothing more is made of it, and Solomon is Solomon for the rest of the story. English Puritans, who read the whole text rather than the parts the church calendar used, took the name up along with the rest of the Hebrew stock, and it crossed to New England with them. It has stayed a distinctly American name since, more at home there than in Britain.

Meaning

beloved of the Lord

Hebrew Yedidyah joins yadid, 'beloved, friend', to Yah, the shortened divine name. The reading is transparent and undisputed. The spelling with two d's and an e — Jedediah rather than Jedidiah — is the English convention and does not change the sense.

How the name formed

  1. Yedidyah
  2. Jedidiah
  3. Jedediah

Related forms: Yedidyah · Jedidiah

Pronouncing Jedediah

jed-uh-DY-uh

Four syllables with the stress on the third. Hebrew puts it on the last, ye-did-YAH. English speakers occasionally shorten it to three syllables, which is not standard but is common in speech.

Nicknames for Jedediah

Moderate

JedThe standard short form, and a complete name in its own right in American use
JeddyA childhood form, affectionate and usually softened out of use later
DiaTaken from the back of the name
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

BOYS NAMED · 1970–202524812402484519702025

US babies named Jedediah per year from 1970 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#5421970s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1970
Most boys named
1979248 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#542reached in 1979
Change vs 2024
−6.3%45 in 2025, from 48
Jedediah sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 1979, with 248 boys. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.

Jedediah in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • Yedidyah in Hebrew — same name
  • Jedidiah in English — spelling variant

Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Tennessee.

Jedediahs among us

3,200

people named Jedediah are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 boy in 37,957 born in 2025 was named Jedediah

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

III

Is it right for you

The Shelton test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jedediah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Shelton climbed just as high around 1937, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Shelton's path sketches the road Jedediah is walking now.

40%chance Jedediah will feel dated by 2040
Jedediah, aligned on its peakShelton· peak 1937not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-40 yrs+70 yrsShelton · #1537Jedediah today
Jedediah today is about where Shelton stood in 1983 — 46 years past a #541-sized peak. By 1998, Shelton had settled around #958.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Jedediah sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.

A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored

Where Jedediah is headed

19702030

US babies named Jedediah per year, 1970 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Jedediah should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.

Steady-4% by 2030projected around #2,999 in 2030

Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.

A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.

Jedediah beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Jedediah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Jedediahthis name45#2798Murad45#2798Hamzah45#2798Hutson45#2798Rickey45#2798

US boys given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • Jed is a strong, established short form that stands entirely on its own.
  • The meaning is warm, exact and undisputed — beloved rather than a command or a demand.
  • A documented American record going back to the colonial period.
What to consider
  • Four syllables is long, and the name will be shortened to Jed by almost everyone.
  • Jedediah and Jedidiah are both used, and the middle vowel gets swapped constantly.
  • It carries a strong frontier and colonial flavor, which is either the appeal or the difficulty.

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Jedediah

Masculine · #2798 in the U.S.

♥ Love itNot for meLet’s talk about it
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Frequently asked

How many Jedediahs are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,200 people named Jedediah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How popular is the name Jedediah in 2025?
Jedediah ranks #2798 among US boy names in 2025, with 45 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Jedediah?
About 1 in every 37,957 US boys born in 2025 was named Jedediah — 45 in all.
Will my child share the name Jedediah with classmates?
Jedediah will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Jedediah

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Murad#2798 · Hamzah#2798 · Hutson#2798 · Rickey#2798 · Nicodemus#2798 · Chayce#2798 · Amor#2798 · Jaiceon#2798

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jedediah? See the current top 100.

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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