Jeremiah - Origin and Meaning of the name

[ 4 syll. je-re-miah, jer-emi-ah ] The boy name Jeremiah is pronounced JHEHRahMAYah ^KEY. Jeremiah's language of origin is Hebrew. It is predominantly used in English and Hungarian. The meaning of Jeremiah is 'exalted by Yahweh, appointed by Yahweh'. Biblical name derived from ruwm which means 'to uplift, to lift up' ; yahweh 'name of God'. An old form of the name is Yirmeyah (Hebrew). The name was borne by a major 7th century BC prophet in the Bible who wrote the Book of Jeremiah and, according to tradition, the Book of Lamentations. The name was adopted by 17th century Puritans and Christian fundamentalists along with other biblical names. The name has sometimes been bestowed in honor of the prophet in Ireland, where he was believed to have paid a visit. The name has been taken as an Anglicized form of Diarmad and Diarmaid in Scotland and Ireland.

Jeremiah has 18 variant forms that are used in both English and foreign languages. Jeremy is a variant form of the name that is used in English. Other English forms include the short form Jere (also used in Finnish), the pet forms Jerry and Miah, and the spelling variants Jeremieh and Jerimiah.

Variant forms of Jeremiah used in foreign languages include the Italian Geremia, the Greek Hieremias, the Russian Ieremiya, the Finnish Jarmo, the Finnish Jarno, the German, Dutch, Finnish, Portuguese, and Spanish Jeremias, the Spanish Jeremías, the French Jérémie, the French Jérémy, the Hebrew Yirmeyahu, and the Hebrew Yirmiyahu. The spelling variant Jeremia (German and Scandinavian) is another foreign form.

Jeremiah is a variant form (Hungarian) of the English Jeremy.

See also the related forms, the English Dermot and the German Jahwe.

Jeremiah is a popular baby boy name, and it is also perceived as trendy. The name has been rising in popularity since the 1960s. At the recent peak of its usage in 2008, 0.301% of baby boys were named Jeremiah. It was #69 in rank then. Out of all boy names in its family, Jeremiah was the most popular in 2008. Jeremiah was twice as popular as the 2nd most popular name, the English Jeremy, in that year.

Baby names that sound like Jeremiah include the English Jerimiah, the Spanish Jeronimo, the Italian Geremia, the Italian Geronimo, the English Jeramee, the French Jeremie, the English Jeremieh, the English Jeremy, the English Jeromy, the French Jérémie, the French Jérémy, the German Gereon, the Italian Germano, the Finnish Jarmo, the Finnish Jarno, the English Jeramey, the English Jeramy, the French Jereme, the English Jermain, and the English Jermaine.

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