Meshach
Masculine
The three young men who refused to worship an idol were called by names honoring idols. Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were renamed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego by the Babylonian court, and those names contain the gods Aku and Nebo.
How old is the name Meshach?
Meshach first appears in US birth records in 1977 — 48 years ago. The typical Meshach alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 600 people named Meshach are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Meshach most popular?
Meshach peaked in 1994, reaching #2392 nationally. Today it ranks #9714, 7,322 places below that high. See the whole 1994 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Mishael to Meshach
The story of Meshach
Daniel 1 has four young Judaeans of good family taken into the Babylonian court and given new names: Daniel becomes Belteshazzar, Hananiah becomes Shadrach, Mishael becomes Meshach, and Azariah becomes Abednego. The Hebrew names are all theophoric on the God of Israel. The Babylonian ones appear to be theophoric on Babylonian gods, with Abednego usually read as servant of Nebo and the other two connected to Aku. Renaming is standard practice for court servants and captives across the ancient Near East, and the point of recording it is the irony that follows: in chapter 3 the three men, under their Babylonian idol-names, refuse to bow to a golden image and are thrown into the furnace. The narrative lets the names carry the argument without commenting on it.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Meshach is the Babylonian name given to Mishael in the book of Daniel. Its meaning is not established; a connection to the god Aku, a name of the moon god Sin, is generally proposed but not demonstrated. The Hebrew name it replaced, Mishael, means who is what God is. The American peak is 1994.
How the name formed
- Mishael
- Meshach
Related forms: Meshach · Meshack
Pronouncing Meshach
MEE-shak
Two syllables, stress on the first. The final ch is said k, following the Hebrew and Greek transliteration convention rather than the English ch of church.
Nicknames for Meshach
Moderate
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
- 1977
- Most boys named
- 199432 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2392reached in 1994
- Change vs 2024
- −50.0%7 in 2025, from 14
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.
Meshach in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Meshach in Hebrew — same name
- Meshack in English — spelling variant
Meshachs among us
people named Meshach are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 244,011 born in 2025 was named Meshach
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 Igor test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Meshach's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Igor climbed just as high around 1953, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Igor's path sketches the road Meshach is walking now.
Meshach 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
Meshach beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Meshach in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables with a firm first-syllable stress.
- The biblical episode is among the best known in the book.
- Mesh works as a short form.
- The final ch will be misread as the ch of church.
- The name's own meaning is genuinely unknown.
- It was imposed on the bearer rather than chosen.
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Meshach
Masculine · #9714 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Meshachs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Meshach are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Meshach in 2025?
- Meshach ranks #9714 among US boy names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Meshach?
- About 1 in every 244,011 US boys born in 2025 was named Meshach — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Meshach with classmates?
- Meshach will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Meshach
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vern#9714 · Abrahm#9714 · Sid#9714 · Hartwell#9714 · Kwan#9714 · Adrean#9714 · Chancey#9714 · Bob#9714
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Meshach? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Meshach and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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