Azariah Meaning in the Bible

Azariah is 'Azaryah (עֲזַרְיָה), from 'azar, 'to help,' with the divine element Yah: 'Yahweh has helped.' It is one of the most common names in the Old Testament — the KJV records more than twenty-five distinct men — which reflects both the ordinariness of the sentiment and how often Israelite families had reason to say it.

Its most famous bearer lost the name. Daniel 1:7 records that the prince of the eunuchs 'gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego.' Each Hebrew name containing El or Yah was replaced with one honouring a Babylonian deity — Abednego most likely means 'servant of Nebo.' The renaming was deliberate identity work, and it failed: the three men still refused the image on the plain of Dura and answered Nebuchadnezzar with the finest sentence in the book, 'but if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods' (Daniel 3:18).

The other notable Azariah is King Uzziah of Judah, called Azariah throughout 2 Kings 15. His reign was long and prosperous until he entered the temple to burn incense himself and was struck with leprosy — a cautionary tale about a king overreaching into priestly ground.

Today Azariah has grown in the US as part of the same wave as Isaiah, Nehemiah, and Zachariah, and it is used for both boys and girls, with Zaria, Ari, and Zay as short forms. It offers something the more common prophet names do not: a meaning that is a completed report — help already given — rather than a hope.