Zebadiah
Masculine · “the Lord has bestowed”
Zebadiah is a Hebrew sentence-name: the Lord has bestowed. It belongs to several men in Chronicles and belongs to the same family as Zebedee, the father of two disciples.
How old is the name Zebadiah?
Zebadiah first appears in US birth records in 1974 — 51 years ago. The typical Zebadiah alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 1,100 people named Zebadiah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Zebadiah most popular?
Zebadiah peaked in 1979, reaching #2048 nationally. Today it ranks #3583, 1,535 places below that high. See the whole 1979 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Zevadyah to Zebadiah
The story of Zebadiah
Zebadiah appears several times in Chronicles as a soldier, a Levite and a judge, and the shorter Greek form Zebedee is the father of James and John in the gospels. English Protestants took up the whole class of -iah names after the Reformation, and Zebadiah appears in colonial American records alongside Hezekiah and Jedidiah. Its recent return belongs with the broader revival of long Old Testament names.
Meaning
the Lord has bestowed
From Hebrew Zevadyah, joining a verb meaning to give or endow to a form of the divine name; Zebedee in the gospels is the Greek rendering of the same name.
How the name formed
- Zevadyah
- Zebadiah
Related forms: Zevadyah · Zebedaios · Zebadías
Pronouncing Zebadiah
zeb-uh-DY-ah
Four syllables with the stress on the third. Hebrew gives zev-ad-YAH.
Nicknames for Zebadiah
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
- 1974
- Most boys named
- 200149 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2048reached in 1979
- Change vs 2024
- +40.9%31 in 2025, from 22
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.
Zebadiah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Zevadyah in Hebrew — same name
- Zebedaios in Greek — related form
- Zebadías in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Zebadiahs among us
people named Zebadiah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 55,099 born in 2025 was named Zebadiah
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 Janes test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Zebadiah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Janes climbed just as high around 1928, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Janes's path sketches the road Zebadiah is walking now.
Zebadiah 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 Zebadiah is headed
Zebadiah 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.
Zebadiah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Zebadiah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning that forms a complete sentence.
- Zeb is a short form with genuine nineteenth-century American history.
- It begins with Z, which keeps it distinct on any list.
- Nine letters and four syllables is a great deal for early handwriting and for forms.
- Zebadiah, Zebediah and Zebadia are all in use and none is fully standard.
- It reads as strongly old-fashioned to most Americans.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Zebadiah to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Zebadiah? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Zebadiah
Masculine · #3583 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Zebadiahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Zebadiah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Zebadiah in 2025?
- Zebadiah ranks #3583 among US boy names in 2025, with 31 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Zebadiah?
- About 1 in every 55,099 US boys born in 2025 was named Zebadiah — 31 in all.
- Will my child share the name Zebadiah with classmates?
- Zebadiah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Zebadiah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Geoffrey#3583 · Robinson#3583 · Kimani#3583 · Emre#3583 · Yoan#3583 · Anirudh#3583 · Sutter#3583 · Heber#3583
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Zebadiah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Zebadiah and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle