Zerah
surname · Latin script
Meaning: The Hebrew name Zerah, meaning 'shining' or 'dawning,' appears for several individuals in the Bible
Recorded as a female name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
/zʁa/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Zerah is a surname written in the Latin script, with more bearers in France than in any other country.
- FRFrance≈1 in 221K(inferred from the name graph)
- ILIsrael≈1 in 107K
- CHSwitzerland1 in 2.8M
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- France (inferred from the name graph)
- Sources
- 138 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 107K (inferred from the name graph)
≈310 people, est.
Highest-authority source
Israel, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
The Hebrew name Zerah, meaning 'shining' or 'dawning,' appears for several individuals in the Bible. One notable Zerah was an ancestor of Asaph, a famous musician and worship leader in King David's time, giving the name a connection to musical and priestly heritage.
Sources 1
- Biblical Names Compiled Database
Attested across 16 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Zerah counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FR France | ≈310 est. | ≈1 in 221K | 40 | Zerah | 138 |
| IL Israel | ≈81 est. | ≈1 in 107K | — | Zerah | 4 |
| US United States | ≈63 est. | ≈1 in 5.3M | 117 | Zerah | 7 |
| CA Canada | ≈5 est. | ≈1 in 7.1M | 1 | — | — |
| CH Switzerland | 3 | 1 in 2.8M | 3 | — | 1 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: INSEE — Fichier des noms de famille (1891–2000); Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; BFS — Familiennamen der Wohnbevölkerung (surnames); Alberta Open Government — Frequency and Ranking of Baby Names by Year and Gender. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Zerah is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
The name and the scarlet thread narrative are often interpreted in Christian tradition as typological symbols, though the primary biblical meaning relates to the 'shining' or 'breaking forth' of light.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
Zerah is a biblical Hebrew name for boys meaning "shining" or "dawn." It is associated with a powerful Ethiopian commander in the Old Testament, making it a name that conveys strength and brightness.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The Hebrew name Zerah (זֶרַח) is derived from a root meaning 'to shine,' 'to rise,' or 'dawning.' It is often associated with light, brightness, or the rising of the sun.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The name Zerah is a biblical name of Hebrew origin meaning 'shining,' 'brilliance,' or 'dawning.' It's a classic name that suggests new beginnings, hope, and light.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The name Zerah is associated with the concept of 'dawning' or 'shining,' potentially reflecting a hope for divine light or guidance.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Juliette Smaja Zérahb. 1891TNTunisian lawyer
- Dov Zerahb. 1954FRFrench official and local politician
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them(machine-generated)
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 19 sources across 13 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 117 | #46,361 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 27 | #46,361 |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2022 | 9 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2015 | 9 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2024 | 8 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2023 | 8 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2017 | 8 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2025 | 7 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2018 | 7 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2013 | 7 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2009 | 7 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2012 | 6 | — |
Reference works 2
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
- jeantosti.com — Dictionnaire des noms de famille de France et d'ailleurs (Jean Tosti)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Zerah mean, and where does it come from?
- The Hebrew name Zerah, meaning 'shining' or 'dawning,' appears for several individuals in the Bible. Recorded by Biblical Names Compiled Database.
- How do you pronounce Zerah?
- A machine transcription gives /zʁa/ (IPA) for French.
- In which country does Zerah have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 307 people named Zerah in France, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled zerah.
- How common is the name Zerah?
- In Switzerland, the national register counted 3 people named Zerah in 2024, about 1 in 2.8 million residents.
What do you want to know about Zerah?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/zerahThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Zerah”. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.