Watch what parents are actually picking and a pattern emerges that no one was predicting in the 1990s. Hebrew Bible boy names are quietly on the rise. Not in the dramatic way of a fad, not Brixley or Kingsley spiking and crashing in five years. In the slower, more durable way of names that families are choosing for substantive reasons, year after year, across multiple cohorts.
The US Social Security Administration’s 2025 baby names data, released in May, shows eight biblical and church-heritage boys’ names with formal rising trends over the past five years. Most are Hebrew Bible names; two are early-church bishops’ names that share the same rising shape; one is a New Testament apostle whose trajectory fits the same pattern. Some have arrived in the Top 20. Some are recovering from a century-deep low. All carry weight beyond their sound.
Here are the eight names making a comeback, what each one’s data shows, and one theory about why parents are choosing them now.
Asher (Hebrew, “happy” or “blessed”). The eighth son of Jacob, whose tribal blessing in Genesis 49 promised rich bread and royal delicacies. Outside common modern American naming for much of the 20th century, Asher has been quietly rising into the mainstream over the past two decades. Ranked #28 in 2025, rising over the past five years; held a 2022 peak of #20. The name reads soft, modern, biblical, and not yet overused.
Levi (Hebrew, “joined” or “attached”). Jacob’s third son and ancestor of the Israelite priesthood. Levi’s rise has been the steepest of any name in this group, climbing from a long mid-century quiet into the current US Top 15. Hit #12 in 2021, the name’s all-time SSA peak, and held there through 2025. The sound is short, the meaning is priestly, and the name is among the most chosen biblical boys’ names in current American naming.
Ezra (Hebrew, “help”). The post-exilic scribe who taught the Law to the returning Jewish community in Jerusalem (Ezra 7:10). The book bearing his name describes a renewal driven by patient teaching rather than political conquest. Ranked #20 in 2025, rising over the past five years; held #13 in 2024. Among the strongest current examples of a Hebrew Bible boy name reentering mainstream American use after a long quiet.
Ezekiel (Hebrew, “God will strengthen”). The exilic prophet whose book contains the vision of the wheel within a wheel (Ezekiel 1) and the valley of dry bones being raised to life (Ezekiel 37). The name was rare in modern American naming for most of the 20th century. Ranked #61 in 2025, rising over the past five years; held #48 in 2022. Ezekiel reads weighty and distinctive, with a sound that doesn’t quite fit any other name in current naming.
Silas (Greek Silas, traditionally connected with the Aramaic root behind Saul, “asked for”). Paul’s chief companion on the second missionary journey, imprisoned with Paul at Philippi after they exorcised a slave girl whose fortune-telling was making money for her owners (Acts 16). Silas is technically New Testament rather than Old, but he shares the same trajectory as the Hebrew names above: a long mid-century quiet, then a steady rise through the 2010s. Hit #71 in 2025, the name’s all-time SSA peak, and rising over the past five years.
Bartholomew (Aramaic Bar-Tolmai, “son of Talmai”). One of the Twelve apostles, traditionally identified with Nathaniel of John 1. Bartholomew’s trajectory is the most extreme in this group: outside the SSA Top 1000 for most of the 20th century, sitting deep in the broader records, but quietly trending upward over the past five years. Outside the SSA Top 1000 in 2025 (rank #3093), but rising in the records from a long late-20th-century low. A long shot for casual American naming, but the data shows real movement.
Augustine (Latin Augustinus, “great” or “venerable”; from the same root as the Roman title Augustus). Named for the 5th-century Bishop of Hippo whose writings shaped Western Christian theology. A church-heritage name rather than a biblical one, included here because it shares the rising pattern of the Hebrew Bible names above. Ranked #545 in 2025, rising over the past five years from a long mid-century low. Carries patron-saint weight especially for Catholic families.
Benedict (Latin Benedictus, “blessed”). Named for the 6th-century founder of Western monasticism, whose Rule shaped European Christian life for fifteen centuries. Like Augustine, Benedict is a church-heritage name rising in modern American use rather than a strictly biblical one. Ranked #814 in 2025, rising over the past five years; held a 1914 peak of #447. The name has gained additional visibility through Pope Benedict XVI’s tenure from 2005 through 2013.
What the pattern suggests
Eight names is not a movement. It is eight names. But the pattern across all of them reads the same: long mid-century quiet, slow 1990s-2000s recovery, sustained rising trend through 2025. The names are spread across categories, including Genesis patriarchs, Hebrew prophets, an NT companion, an NT apostle, and two early-church bishops. They are moving together.
Eight names is not a movement. It is eight names. But the pattern across all of them reads the same.
Levi. Hit #12 in 2021, the name's all-time SSA peak, and held there through 2025. From a long mid-century quiet to the US Top 15.
One likely factor is the broader return of older naming registers in American culture. Family-tree research has become inexpensive; many parents are now aware of great-grandparents’ names that they would never have considered before, and those names skew biblical. Another likely factor is the specific aesthetic appeal of two-syllable Hebrew names with soft consonants. Asher, Levi, Ezra, Ezekiel, Silas all share a sound profile that pairs naturally with modern surnames.
A third factor is more speculative but worth naming: an emerging preference for names whose meaning has substantive weight. The mid-century alternative names, Brian, Gary, Kevin, Wayne, were chosen mostly for sound. The names rising through 2025 carry meanings. Whether the parents picking them know the meanings or simply respond to the sound, the names themselves carry their meaning forward into another generation.
The Names, Explained boys cluster covers each of these names in more depth alongside their full biblical and historical context. The Old Testament patriarchs article includes Asher and Levi. The Old Testament prophets article includes Ezekiel. The Old Testament kings and judges article covers the lawgivers and rulers around them. The New Testament apostles article covers Bartholomew. The other notable New Testament boy names article covers Silas. For the complete list, see Biblical boy names or Old Testament names.
Sources
- US Social Security Administration. Popular Baby Names: National Data, 1880-2025. https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
- Brown, Driver, and Briggs. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford University Press.
- Hanks, Hardcastle, and Hodges. A Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press.
- Farmer, David Hugh. The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Oxford University Press.
- Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/