Ezra Baby boy name meaning, origin, and popularity

Ezra is primarily a boy's name that means "help" or "helper" in Hebrew. The name may derive from the longer Hebrew name "Azaryahu," which means "God helps."

The most famous Ezra was a Hebrew prophet, scribe, and priest who wrote the book of Ezra in the Bible. He's most notable in Jewish tradition for leading a group of Israelite exiles back into Jerusalem and helping rebuild the ancient city. A tomb in Al-Uzair, a small town in Iraq, is Ezra's purported burial place and a sacred site for Jews and Muslims alike.

The name Ezra also appears in other languages – most commonly as Uzair in Arabic, Esdras in Greek and Latin, Lezra in many North African cultures, and Ezrin or Ezdrin in Slavic languages. Azra, Ezera, and Ezrah are other derivatives of Ezra, too.

While Ezra has appeared in the Social Security Administration's list of the 1,000 most popular boy's names since 1900, it has fluctuated in popularity over the past century. It nearly fell off the list entirely in the '60s – but has been steadily climbing through the ranks since the early '90s, cracking into the top 100 in 2015 and then making the top 50 in 2020.

Ezra is considered a gender-neutral name, though many more boys hold the name. As a girl's name, it broke into the Social Security Administration's top 1,000 names in 2018.

That trend is much the same among BabyCenter parents, hundreds of thousands of whom share their babies' names with us each year. Ezra has been in the top 50 for boy's names since 2018, but ranks much lower among girls.

Overall, Ezra is trending in a positive direction. In fact, many religious names that once fell off in popularity are now making a comeback. Ezra appears to be one of those names that is recapturing parents' attention.