Zachary
- Pronunciation
- [Za-cha-ry]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Remembered By God
- Origin
- Hebrew
About the Name Zachary
Zachary descends through Late Latin Zacharias from the Hebrew Zecharyah, composed of zakar (to remember) and the divine name suffix -yah (Yahweh) — "Yahweh has remembered" or "the Lord remembers." The name belongs to multiple Hebrew Bible figures, most notably the prophet Zechariah (one of the twelve minor prophets) and the New Testament Zechariah, the priest who fathered John the Baptist after a vision in the Temple in which the angel Gabriel announced the conception (Luke 1:5–25).
The name has been continuously used in Christian-influenced naming traditions since the medieval period. Notable American bearers include US president Zachary Taylor (1784–1850), the 12th president and Mexican-American War general, who died of acute illness only 16 months into his presidency; Confederate Vice President Zachary Cox; and contemporary actors including Zachary Levi and Zachary Quinto.
Zachary's American climb peaked in the 1990s, reaching the US top 25 boys' rank from 1989 through 2002 — over a decade of top-tier American popularity. The name has receded since but remains in steady use. The appeal is its biblical depth combined with three syllables that nickname easily — religiously anchored, instantly readable, and tonal versatility across formal and casual registers. Common nicknames Zach (the dominant modern form, casual and adult), Zac (alternate spelling, made famous by actor Zac Efron), Zachy, and the rare Zee each carry distinct registers. International forms include Zacarías (Spanish), Zaccaria (Italian), Zacharie (French), Zacharias (German), Zecharyah (the original Hebrew), and the rarer Sakaria (Arabic-derived form).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Zachary
US Popularity History (1976–2025)
Annual US births named Zachary by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1993 with 25,537 boys named Zachary (boy rank #15 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #216 for boys (1,646 US births). That's 201 places below its 1993 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 Zachary Most Popular?
Average boy-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 boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Zachary the strongest states are New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Jersey | #78 | 1,177 |
| 2 | Connecticut | #83 | 439 |
| 3 | Massachusetts | #83 | 824 |
| 4 | New York | #85 | 2,213 |
| 5 | New Hampshire | #90 | 163 |
| 6 | Rhode Island | #100 | 122 |
| 7 | Pennsylvania | #109 | 1,265 |
| 8 | Maryland | #111 | 580 |
| 9 | Virginia | #123 | 791 |
| 10 | Illinois | #127 | 1,075 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Zachary in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zac | Remembered By God | Male | Hebrew |
| Zach | Variant Of Zachariah And Zachary. | Male | English |
| Zacharia | Jehovah Has Remembered. | Male | German |
| Zack | Variant Of Zachariah And Zachary. | Male | English |
| Zackery | Variant Of Zachariah And Zachary. | Male | English |
| Zak | Variant Of Zachariah And Zachary. | Male | English |
| Zeke | Abbreviation Of Ezekiel. | Male | English |
Famous People Named Zachary
1 notable figure from history and culture who share the name Zachary.
- Zachary Taylor — US President (1784)
Looking for names like Zachary?
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 Zachary to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Zachary against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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