Yocheved
Feminine · “the Lord is glory”
Yocheved is Moses' mother, and her name holds a small piece of history that is easy to miss: it is the first name in the Hebrew Bible to contain the divine name, and it appears before the passage in which that name is revealed.
How old is the name Yocheved?
Yocheved first appears in US birth records in 1953 — 72 years ago. The typical Yocheved alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 2,400 people named Yocheved are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Yocheved most popular?
Yocheved peaked in 2012, reaching #2132 nationally. Today it ranks #2957, 825 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yokheved to Yocheved
The story of Yocheved
Yocheved appears in Exodus and Numbers as the mother of Moses, Aaron and Miriam — the woman who hides her son and then, when he is found, is hired to nurse her own child. The text gives her very little and tradition has given her a great deal. The name stayed in continuous Jewish use, and Yiddish shaped it to Yocheved and Yachet. It reaches United States records almost entirely through observant Jewish families, where it is an ordinary rather than an unusual name.
Meaning
the Lord is glory
Hebrew Yokheved joins Yo, a shortened form of the divine name, to kavod, 'glory, weight, honor' — kavod in Hebrew is literally heaviness, and glory is what weight becomes when it is applied to a person. The reading is documented. That the name carries the divine element before Exodus records its revelation to Moses is a point commentators have been making for a very long time.
How the name formed
- Yokheved
- Iochabel
- Yocheved
Related forms: יוכבד · Jochebed · Yocheved
Pronouncing Yocheved
yo-KHEH-ved
Three syllables with the stress on the last in Hebrew. The ch is a throat sound as in Bach, not the ch of church. English speakers reach for YOK-uh-ved, which softens the middle consonant considerably.
Nicknames for Yocheved
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
- 1953
- Most girls named
- 201289 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2132reached in 2012
- Change vs 2024
- −27.3%56 in 2025, from 77
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.
Yocheved in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- יוכבד in Hebrew — transliteration
- Jochebed in English — same name
- Yocheved in Yiddish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, New Jersey, California.
Yocheveds among us
people named Yocheved are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 28,701 born in 2025 was named Yocheved
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 Maryfrances test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Yocheved's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Maryfrances climbed just as high around 1963, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Maryfrances's path sketches the road Yocheved is walking now.
Yocheved 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 Yocheved is headed
Yocheved 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.
Yocheved beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Yocheved in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented biblical figure with a substantial role and a meaningful name.
- Yochi is a ready and very widely used short form.
- Rooted in a living tradition rather than revived from a list.
- The Hebrew ch is a throat sound English does not have and will be flattened.
- Yocheved and Jochebed are the same name and look entirely unrelated on paper.
- It is strongly identified with observant Jewish families, which is either the point or something to weigh.
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What they receive
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Yocheved
Feminine · #2957 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Yocheveds 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 Yocheved are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Yocheved in 2025?
- Yocheved ranks #2957 among US girl names in 2025, with 56 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Yocheved?
- About 1 in every 28,701 US girls born in 2025 was named Yocheved — 56 in all.
- Will my child share the name Yocheved with classmates?
- Yocheved will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Yocheved
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Klaire#2957 · Pauline#2957 · Alea#2957 · Odelia#2957 · Rahaf#2957 · Rosabella#2957 · Kenzlee#2957 · Kalli#2957
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Yocheved? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Yocheved and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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