Jedediah is a variant of Jedidiah, a Hebrew name that means "beloved of the Lord" or "friend of God"; in the Bible it is the name the prophet Nathan gave to the newborn Solomon. It was a Puritan favorite in colonial New England, and Jedediah Smith was a famous mountain man of the early American West. Jedediah peaked at number 1913 among US boys in 2014 and has settled at number 2818 in 2025.