Judah
Masculine · “praised”
Judah is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 35,578 boys against 853 girls since 1880. See Judah as a girl name
Judah is the name of a son, a tribe and a kingdom in the Hebrew Bible, and the word behind Judea, Jew and Judaism — few names have left that much vocabulary behind them. In the mouth it is unhurried: two open syllables, no consonant cluster, nothing to trip over. Long on record in American statistics, it has only lately gathered real momentum, which is why most of the Judahs alive are still young.
How old is the name Judah?
Judah first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Judah is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 35,000 people named Judah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Judah most popular?
Judah peaked in 2023, reaching #176 nationally. Today it ranks #178, 2 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Judah appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Yehudah to Judah
The story of Judah
The Hebrew original is Yehudah, borne first by the fourth son of Jacob and Leah and then by the tribe and the southern kingdom named after him — from which Judea, and eventually the words Jew and Judaism, all descend. Greek-speaking translators of the Hebrew Bible wrote it Ioudas, Latin took it as Iudas, and English inherited both a New Testament Judas and a softened Jude. Translators of the English Bible kept Judah for the Old Testament figures, which is how the older form survived intact alongside its descendants. It was carried through the centuries by figures such as Judah Maccabee, who led the second-century BCE revolt commemorated at Hanukkah.
Meaning
praised, or thanksgiving
The reading comes from the Hebrew root y-d-h, to praise or give thanks, and from Genesis, where Leah names her fourth son with the words "this time I will praise the LORD." Scholars generally treat that verse as a wordplay on an older name rather than its origin, but the sense of praise is the accepted one.
How the name formed
- Yehudah
- Ioudas
- Iudas
- Judas
- Jude
Related forms: Yehuda · Ioudas · Iudas · Judá · Yudel · Jude
Pronouncing Judah
JOO-dah
Stress on the first syllable. The Hebrew form is said yeh-hoo-DAH, with the stress at the end.
Nicknames for Judah
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 20212,133 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #176reached in 2023
- Change vs 2023
- −2.4%2,050 in 2025, from 2,101
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.
Judah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Yehuda in Hebrew — transliteration
- Ioudas in Greek — related form
- Iudas in Latin — related form
- Judá in Spanish — same name
- Yudel in Yiddish — related form
- Jude in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Judahs among us
people named Judah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 833 born in 2025 was named Judah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Terrence test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Judah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Terrence climbed just as high around 1950, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Terrence's path sketches the road Judah is walking now.
Judah 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 Judah is headed
Judah should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Judah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Judah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Ready-made short form in Jude, which needs no explanation and works as a full name if he ever prefers it.
- Spelled the way it sounds for an English speaker; almost no one will need it repeated twice.
- A continuous written record from the Hebrew Bible to the present, with recognizable forms in Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Spanish.
- Fits the pattern of Noah, Micah and Elijah — familiar shape, far less common in practice.
- Judah and Judas are the same name in origin, and some people will hear the second when they read the first. In practice the two spellings are kept apart in English Bibles and in ordinary use, but the association exists.
- Jude is the short form most people will reach for, and Jude is considerably more common on its own — expect him to be called it, and to be asked which one is on the birth certificate.
- The name reached most Americans as a place or a tribe before it reached them as a person's name, so a few will need a beat to register it as a first name.
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What they receive
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Judah
Masculine · #178 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Judahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 35,000 people named Judah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Judah in 2025?
- Judah ranks #178 among US boy names in 2025, with 2,050 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Judah?
- About 1 in every 833 US boys born in 2025 was named Judah — 2,050 in all.
- Will my child share the name Judah with classmates?
- Judah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Judah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Nicolas#177 · Emmanuel#179 · Antonio#176 · Max#180 · Felix#175 · Tucker#181 · Ryker#182 · Nico#174
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Judah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Judah and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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