Uriah
yoo-RY-ah
Uriah is a Hebrew name, Uriyyah, meaning “God is my light” or “my flame is God,” combining ur (“light, flame”) and Yah (a form of God’s name).
In the Hebrew Bible, Uriah the Hittite was a loyal soldier whose death King David arranged so he could marry Uriah’s wife Bathsheba. The story is one of the Bible’s most morally complex narratives.
Uriah peaked at No. 505 in 2014 with 559 births. In 2024 it ranks No. 654 with 421 births, below its mid-decade high.
What the name Uriah means
Uriah Heep, Charles Dickens’ villain in David Copperfield, gave the name a literary association with falseness and manipulation that has shadowed it in English literary culture.
Three syllables—yoo-RY-uh—have a stately, Old Testament cadence. The initial vowel, the central diphthong, and the soft close give it an antique solemnity.
Parents who choose Uriah embrace its rarity among biblical names. While Joshua and Elijah chart in the hundreds, Uriah remains less trodden—a genuine find for biblical name enthusiasts.
The name Uriah Heep has been partly reclaimed by the rock band Uriah Heep, who borrowed the Dickens character’s name and gave it hard rock associations since 1969.
US popularity over time
Numerology and symbolism
Based on Pythagorean numerology — a traditional system linking name letters to numbers. Presented for cultural interest.
Famous people named Uriah
Uriah - similar names
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