Obadiah
Masculine · “servant of the Lord”
Obadiah is servant of the Lord, and his book is the shortest in the Hebrew Bible — twenty-one verses, and nothing else known about the man who wrote them.
How old is the name Obadiah?
Obadiah first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Obadiah is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,400 people named Obadiah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Obadiah most popular?
Obadiah peaked in 2024, reaching #1413 nationally. Today it ranks #1621, 208 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Obadiah appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Ovadyah to Obadiah
The story of Obadiah
The book of Obadiah is twenty-one verses long, addressed against Edom, and nothing is known of its author — the name is common enough in the Bible that a dozen men carry it. Puritan families took it up in the seventeenth century, and it became a nineteenth-century American staple. It has returned to current use.
Meaning
servant of the Lord
From the Hebrew Ovadyah — eved, 'servant' or 'worshipper', and Yah, the divine name. It is a complete statement rather than a word. The construction is the standard Hebrew theophoric pattern, and the equivalent Arabic Abdullah means exactly the same thing.
How the name formed
- Ovadyah
- Obadias
- Obadiah
Related forms: Ovadyah · Abdullah · Abdías
Pronouncing Obadiah
oh-buh-DY-uh
Four syllables, stress on the third. Hebrew Ovadyah has three with a v in the middle.
Nicknames for Obadiah
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
- 1914
- Most boys named
- 2022124 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1413reached in 2024
- Change vs 2023
- −8.0%104 in 2025, from 113
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.
Obadiah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ovadyah in Hebrew — related form
- Abdullah in Arabic — related form
- Abdías in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Obadiahs among us
people named Obadiah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 16,424 born in 2025 was named Obadiah
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 Treyson test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Obadiah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Treyson climbed just as high around 2009, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Treyson's path sketches the road Obadiah is walking now.
Obadiah 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 Obadiah is headed
Obadiah 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.
Obadiah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Obadiah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is a complete statement and is undisputed.
- Its exact Arabic equivalent, Abdullah, is a genuinely good cross-tradition detail.
- Obie is available as a warm and established short form.
- Four syllables make it long for everyday use.
- It reads as strongly and specifically biblical.
- Almost nothing is known about the prophet himself.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Obadiah
Masculine · #1621 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Obadiahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,400 people named Obadiah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Obadiah in 2025?
- Obadiah ranks #1621 among US boy names in 2025, with 104 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Obadiah?
- About 1 in every 16,424 US boys born in 2025 was named Obadiah — 104 in all.
- Will my child share the name Obadiah with classmates?
- Obadiah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Obadiah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Teagan#1621 · Benton#1621 · Ahaan#1621 · Antony#1621 · Kendrix#1621 · Theoden#1621 · Tylen#1621 · Carmen#1621
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Obadiah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Obadiah and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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