Moriah
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- God Teaches. Biblical Name Of The Mount Of The Jerusalem's Temple Of Solomon.
- Origin
- Hebrew
About the Name Moriah
Moriah is a Hebrew name of biblical significance, traditionally understood to mean "God teaches" or "chosen by God." In scripture, Mount Moriah is the height in Jerusalem associated with the binding of Isaac and later identified as the site of Solomon's Temple, giving the name a deep spiritual resonance and an air of sacred history. As both a place-name and a personal name, it carries layers of meaning rooted in faith and devotion.
That scripturally rooted heritage gave Moriah a long run on the American charts. It first entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 2000 at its peak of #675 and remained in the rankings through 2016, where it stood at #963 following ranks of #975 and #970 in the years just before — a steady presence across more than a decade and a half among the wave of melodic, biblically inspired girl names before it gently slipped from the top tier.
The name's flowing three-syllable sound and gentle -iah ending give it a soft, contemporary musicality alongside its ancient roots, with the easy nickname Mo, Ria, or Mori coming naturally. Recorded variants include Moria, Moriel, and Morit, related Hebrew forms that share its devotional spirit while offering slightly different shapes. For parents who want a name with genuine scriptural depth and a lyrical, modern flow, Moriah delivers both with grace.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Moriah
US Popularity History (2000–2016)
Annual US births named Moriah by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2009 with 377 girls named Moriah (girl rank #753 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2016, ranked #963 for girls (282 US births). That's 210 places below its 2009 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Moriah Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Moriah the strongest states are Arkansas, Kentucky, South Carolina.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arkansas | #585 | 17 |
| 2 | Kentucky | #636 | 21 |
| 3 | South Carolina | #665 | 22 |
| 4 | Missouri | #721 | 40 |
| 5 | Alabama | #745 | 41 |
| 6 | Virginia | #796 | 68 |
| 7 | Maryland | #809 | 27 |
| 8 | Louisiana | #810 | 20 |
| 9 | Tennessee | #814 | 60 |
| 10 | North Carolina | #827 | 72 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michigan | #1,108 | 21 |
| 2 | Indiana | #987 | 25 |
| 3 | Florida | #947 | 67 |
| 4 | Georgia | #931 | 39 |
| 5 | Pennsylvania | #917 | 41 |
| 6 | Colorado | #910 | 17 |
| 7 | Massachusetts | #909 | 16 |
| 8 | Ohio | #859 | 57 |
| 9 | Minnesota | #835 | 18 |
| 10 | North Carolina | #827 | 72 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Moriah in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
Looking for names like Moriah?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Moriah to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Moriah against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).