Moriah
Feminine · Hebrew roots · “Hebrew”
Moriah is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 13,399 girls against 108 boys since 1880.
Moriah is a place before it is a person — the land named in Genesis where Abraham was sent, and in Chronicles the hill where Solomon's temple was raised. It arrived in English the way Bethany and Sharon did, lifted off the map of scripture and given to daughters. Three syllables that rise in the middle and land soft: muh-RYE-uh.
How old is the name Moriah?
Moriah first appears in US birth records in 1968 — 57 years ago. The typical Moriah alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 13,000 people named Moriah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Moriah most popular?
Moriah peaked in 1992, reaching #477 nationally. Today it ranks #1092, 615 places below that high. See the whole 1992 chart.
Moriah appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Moriyyah (Hebrew) to Moriah
The story of Moriah
Moriah appears twice in the Hebrew Bible: as the land Abraham travels to in Genesis 22, and in 2 Chronicles as the hill in Jerusalem where the temple was built — the identification that made the word famous far beyond Hebrew. It stayed a place name for most of its life. English-speaking Protestants, especially in the nonconformist and revival traditions, put Old Testament place names on buildings and then on children: Welsh chapels across the south of Wales were named Bethel, Salem and Moriah, and villages in New York and Appalachia carry the name too. Its use as a girl's given name in the United States is comparatively recent, and it has held a modest, unbroken place ever since.
Meaningscholars disagree
Hebrew, tied to the roots "to see" and the divine name Yah
The traditional Jewish and Christian reading breaks it as ra'ah + Yah, "seen by" or "provided by the LORD" — a reading the Genesis text itself invites, since Abraham names the spot "the LORD will see/provide." Others connect it to moreh, "teacher" or "instruction," giving something closer to "taught by the LORD." Hebrew place names are often older than any explanation attached to them, and this one is no exception.
How the name formed
- MoriyyahHebrew
- MoriaLatin Vulgate
- Moriah
Related forms: מוֹרִיָּה (Moriya) · Moria · Moriah · Moria
Pronouncing Moriah
muh-RYE-uh
Stress on the middle syllable. Some families say mo-RYE-uh, keeping a fuller first vowel. Either way it is identical in sound to Mariah, which is the single most useful thing to know about it in daily life.
Nicknames for Moriah
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
- 1968
- Most girls named
- 1992517 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #477reached in 1992
- Change vs 2024
- +12.8%221 in 2025, from 196
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.
Moriah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- מוֹרִיָּה (Moriya) in Hebrew — transliteration
- Moria in Latin — related form
- Moriah in Welsh — same name
- Moria in Spanish — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Moriahs among us
people named Moriah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 7,273 born in 2025 was named Moriah
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 Ardis test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Moriah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ardis climbed just as high around 1931, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ardis's path sketches the road Moriah is walking now.
Moriah 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 Moriah is headed
Moriah should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Moriah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Moriah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Anyone who has read Genesis or Chronicles recognizes the word, so the name arrives with a story already attached for a great many people.
- Spelled the way it sounds once the first syllable is heard, and short enough to write out young.
- Several natural short forms — Mo, Ria, Riah — none of which have to be taught to anyone.
- Works in English and modern Hebrew alike, where Moriya is in ordinary use as a girl's name.
- Familiar in sound without being common in fact: an unbroken, level presence in American records rather than a spike.
- It sounds exactly like Mariah, and Mariah is the far better-known spelling. Expect a lifetime of gentle corrections on forms, name tags and email addresses — most people will hear the name correctly and write it the other way.
- The Genesis association is specifically the binding of Isaac, a heavy and much-debated passage. Most people will not think of it; some will, and a few families would rather not carry it.
- The biblical origin reads as openly religious to readers who know scripture, and as simply an unfamiliar pretty name to those who do not. Both reactions are common.
- She will very likely be the only Moriah in her school, which means introducing the name often — usually a small pleasure, occasionally a chore.
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What they receive
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Moriah
Feminine · Hebrew roots · #1092 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Moriahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 13,000 people named Moriah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Moriah in 2025?
- Moriah ranks #1092 among US girl names in 2025, with 221 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Moriah?
- About 1 in every 7,273 US girls born in 2025 was named Moriah — 221 in all.
- Will my child share the name Moriah with classmates?
- Moriah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Moriah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
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Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Moriah? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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