Lazarus is a Hebrew name — the Greek form of Eleazar, meaning "God has helped" — carried primarily by two biblical figures: the man Jesus raised from the dead in the Gospel of John, and the poor man in the parable of Lazarus and Dives. With 3,854 SSA records and a 2021 peak, Lazarus is climbing among parents drawn to dramatic, underused biblical names. It's one of the rare names where the meaning, the story, and the sound all point in the same direction: resilience.
The Man Raised from the Dead
The story of Lazarus in John 11 is one of the most dramatic passages in the New Testament: four days dead, wrapped in burial cloths, called out of the tomb by Jesus. The image of emergence from death — of a life restored when it seemed definitively over — embedded the name Lazarus with a resurrection symbolism that no other biblical name carries as directly. For Christian families who find meaning in that story, naming a child Lazarus is a theological statement about new life and divine intervention. Hebrew names with this kind of specific narrative weight carry their stories with them into every introduction.
David Bowie and the Name's Cultural Second Life
In 2016, David Bowie released Blackstar, his final album, with the haunting single "Lazarus" , a song he wrote while facing terminal illness, recording a music video from his hospital bed. The song became one of the most discussed artistic statements on death and legacy of the decade. Bowie's use of Lazarus as a creative alter ego for this final work gave the name a powerful contemporary cultural address that operates entirely independently of its biblical roots. Rising names with this kind of layered cultural significance , ancient theology plus recent artistic legacy , tend to develop lasting interest.
The Counter-Reading: A Heavy Name to Carry
Lazarus is unmistakably dramatic. The resurrection story is joyful but also involves death and burial; the Bowie association is elegant but involves illness and loss. Some parents will find the name carries too much weight for a baby , too many adults will respond with the Bowie reference or the Gospel story in the first five seconds of introduction. For families comfortable with narrative depth in a name, that's not a problem. For those who want a name that sits lightly, Lazarus may be too loaded. Compare Lazarus and Elijah for two dramatic Hebrew names at different stages of American adoption.