Zachary - Origin and Meaning of the name

The boy name Zachary [ syll. zac-ha-ry, za-ch-ary ] is pronounced ZAEK-Riy ^KEY. Zachary is of Hebrew origin and it is used largely in the English language. Zachary's meaning is 'Yahweh has remembered'. Biblical name derived from zakar meaning 'to remember' ; yahweh 'name of God'. Original forms of Zachary include the Hebrew Sacharja, the Aramaic Zacchaeus, the Old Greek Zacharias, and the Hebrew Zechariah. The Hebrew form Zechariah was borne in the Old Testament of the Bible by several people, including one of the twelve minor prophets of Judah, who wrote a book named after him. In the New Testament, it was borne by John the Baptist's father, who was for a period struck with dumbness for his disbelief in God's word. The name Zachary was also borne by Pope Saint Zachary (-752). The name was adopted by English Puritans in the 17th century. In the USA, it was popularized by the twelfth President, Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), who was a military leader. In the Scottish Highlands, the name is used as an Anglicized version of the Gaelic Sgàire.

Zachary has 15 variations that are used in both English and foreign languages. Variations of the name used in English include Zachariah (also used in Hebrew), Zachery, Zackary, Zackery, Zakary, and Zechariah (also used in Hebrew). The short forms Zac, Zach, Zack, and Zak are other English variants.

Foreign variations of Zachary include the Scottish Sachairi, the Finnish Sakari, the Italian Zaccaria, the German, Greek, and Hebrew Zacharias, and the French Zacharie.

Zachary is very popular as a baby name for boys. The name rose in popularity from the 1940s up to the 1990s; prior to that, it was of only infrequent use. Its usage peaked in 1993 with 1.237% of baby boys being given the name Zachary. It ranked at #15 then. The baby name has since experienced a decline in popularity. In 2007, it ranked at #42 with a usage of 0.461%, but it was nonetheless the most popular among all boy names in its group. 11 times more boys were named Zachary than the 2nd most popular name, the English Zackary, in 2007.

Baby names that sound like Zachary include the Arabic, Swahili, and Turkish Zahir, the French Zacharie, the English Zachery, the English Zackary, the English Zackery, the English Zakary, the Italian Zaccaria, the English and Hebrew Zachariah, and the English and Hebrew Zechariah.

^KEY: approx pronunciation for Zachary: Z as in "zee (Z.IY)" ; AE as in "at (AE.T)" ; K as in "key (K.IY)" ; R as in "read (R.IY.D)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)"

Details of famous persons named Zachary:
Actor Zac Efron, born Zachary Efron, 18 October 1987, San Luis Obispo, California.
U.S. President Zachary Taylor, born 24 November 1784 - 9 July 1850, Montebello, Virginia.

Popularity Trend
for Zachary
from 1900 to 2007

Variant Popularity Chart
for Zachary
in 2007