# Obadiah (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/obadiah/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | Hebrew |
| Meaning | “servant of yahweh”, “servant of god” |
| Pronunciation | /ˌoʊbəˈdaɪə/, 4 syllables |
| Nicknames | Obie |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 2,521 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 2,521 / 0 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 91, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Hebrew עובדיה (Ovadya, “servant of Yahweh”); comparable to Arabic عبد اللّٰه (ʕabd-allah, “servant of God”).

## What it means

Obadiah is grouped under god.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 54 | 2,367 |
| 2012 | 69 | 2,027 |
| 2013 | 69 | 2,005 |
| 2014 | 72 | 1,993 |
| 2015 | 93 | 1,689 |
| 2016 | 107 | 1,553 |
| 2017 | 97 | 1,639 |
| 2018 | 97 | 1,661 |
| 2019 | 96 | 1,673 |
| 2020 | 105 | 1,566 |
| 2021 | 99 | 1,676 |
| 2022 | 124 | 1,464 |
| 2023 | 113 | 1,554 |
| 2024 | 131 | 1,414 |
| 2025 | 104 | 1,630 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 3 | 4,527 |
| 2010 | 3 | 4,678 |
| 2011 | 4 | 3,830 |
| 2012 | 6 | 3,039 |
| 2014 | 5 | 3,362 |
| 2015 | 8 | 2,483 |
| 2016 | 4 | 4,023 |
| 2018 | 3 | 4,749 |
| 2019 | 9 | 2,266 |
| 2020 | 6 | 2,960 |
| 2021 | 5 | 3,451 |
| 2022 | 4 | 4,001 |
| 2023 | 7 | 2,813 |
| 2024 | 6 | 3,254 |
| 2025 | 10 | 2,269 |

## People named Obadiah

- Obadiah, biblical prophet associated with the Book of Obadiah
- Abdullah ibn Salam, companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.