Zebadiah
Zebadiah was given to 31 boys in 2025, #3,655 among boys’ names; 1,112 Americans have been recorded with it since 1974 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,080 Americans named Zebadiah and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 25 years old and half are between 13 and 37.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Zebadiah by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Zebadiah mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Zebadiah is “a male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.” Its etymology gives the senses “gift of God, God has bestowed” (זְבַדְיָה) and “my gift” (זַבְדִּי).
From Hebrew זְבַדְיָה (Zəḇaḏyâ, “gift of God, God has bestowed”), from זַבְדִּי (zab̲dî, “my gift”). Doublet of Zebedee.
/ˌzɛbəˈdaɪə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Zebadiah?
#3,655 among boys’ names, 2025
Zebadiah rose from #3,879 in 2015 to #3,655 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 14.6 to 18.1 per million.
49 babies in 2001, the peak
Zebadiah peaked in 2001, when 49 boys were given it, #2,146 among boys’ names. The 31 births of 2025 are 63% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 31 | #3,655 | 18.1 |
| 2024 | 22 | #4,694 | 12.8 |
| 2023 | 15 | #6,209 | 8.8 |
| 2022 | 20 | #5,013 | 11.5 |
| 2021 | 21 | #4,773 | 12.0 |
| 2020 | 15 | #5,968 | 8.7 |
| 2019 | 23 | #4,474 | 12.8 |
| 2018 | 16 | #5,762 | 8.8 |
| 2017 | 20 | #4,930 | 10.8 |
| 2016 | 18 | #5,309 | 9.5 |
Every recorded year (52)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 28 | #3,879 | 14.6 |
| 2014 | 21 | #4,695 | 10.9 |
| 2013 | 23 | #4,309 | 12.2 |
| 2012 | 15 | #5,990 | 7.9 |
| 2011 | 21 | #4,652 | 11.1 |
| 2010 | 12 | #7,073 | 6.3 |
| 2009 | 26 | #4,032 | 13.1 |
| 2008 | 10 | #8,314 | 4.9 |
| 2007 | 25 | #4,122 | 12.0 |
| 2006 | 21 | #4,515 | 10.2 |
| 2005 | 25 | #3,810 | 12.5 |
| 2004 | 24 | #3,854 | 12.1 |
| 2003 | 25 | #3,620 | 12.7 |
| 2002 | 22 | #3,903 | 11.3 |
| 2001 | 49 | #2,146 | 25.2 |
| 2000 | 25 | #3,416 | 12.7 |
| 1999 | 42 | #2,227 | 21.9 |
| 1998 | 25 | #3,186 | 13.1 |
| 1997 | 28 | #2,818 | 14.9 |
| 1996 | 33 | #2,435 | 17.4 |
| 1995 | 22 | #3,185 | 11.6 |
| 1994 | 25 | #2,945 | 12.9 |
| 1993 | 18 | #3,654 | 9.2 |
| 1992 | 21 | #3,213 | 10.5 |
| 1991 | 23 | #2,907 | 11.4 |
| 1990 | 12 | #4,666 | 5.8 |
| 1989 | 19 | #3,198 | 9.5 |
| 1988 | 20 | #2,854 | 10.4 |
| 1987 | 21 | #2,635 | 11.2 |
| 1986 | 27 | #2,157 | 14.7 |
| 1985 | 27 | #2,114 | 14.6 |
| 1984 | 24 | #2,230 | 13.3 |
| 1983 | 14 | #3,228 | 7.8 |
| 1982 | 12 | #3,688 | 6.6 |
| 1981 | 23 | #2,268 | 12.8 |
| 1980 | 24 | #2,212 | 13.5 |
| 1979 | 25 | #2,103 | 14.5 |
| 1978 | 15 | #2,927 | 9.1 |
| 1977 | 11 | #3,601 | 6.7 |
| 1976 | 14 | #2,944 | 8.9 |
| 1975 | 6 | #5,455 | 3.8 |
| 1974 | 8 | #4,184 | 5.1 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Zebadiah a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Zebadiah has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 52 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Zebadiah: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Zebadiah, and how old are they?
1,080 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 1,112 Americans ever recorded as Zebadiah. The median Zebadiah alive today is 25 years old; half are between 13 and 37.
The 2020 Census counted 723 people named Zebadiah (0 women and girls, 723 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 968 born in the U.S. The Census count is 25% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 94 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 324 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 388 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 271 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 1,734 babies since 1880, Zebadiah is the most given (64% of them). In 2025 it was given to 31 of their 49 babies (63%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Zebadiah
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Zebadiah and names like it
- Compare Zebadiah and ZebediahBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sZebadiah peaked in 2001.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Zebadiah since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Zebadiah: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2001The year the most babies were named Zebadiah.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Zebadiah alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with ZMost given first.