Jedidiah

We know the Puritans were responsible for bringing the Biblical name Jedidiah into the American repertoire way back in the 17th century; however, name data doesn’t go back that far. It doesn’t look like Jedidiah was used much in the 19th century or even most of the 20th century for that matter. Evidence of usage first appeared in 1977. Even then Jedidiah was (and remains) a rarity. It dropped off the charts again in the 1990s and 2000s and then recently made a small comeback in the past couple of years. We’re not quite sure if Jedidiah is coming or going at this point. His movements on the charts are so fickle and seemingly unpredictable. These Biblical names with the “-iah” suffix are seeing a collective revival. Other examples include Isaiah, Jeremiah, Josiah, Nehemiah, Zachariah, Uriah, Hezekiah…we even see Messiah on the charts! In keeping with the traditions of the Puritans, we see Jedidiah as an appealing choice for fundamental or non-conformist Christians (such as Mormons). Jedi could be considered a cool nickname (in reference to the Star Wars movies) but Jed is more common.