Meaning: Its source is Yirmeyahu, a Hebrew name meaning "Exalted by God."

Nickname For: Jeremiah and Jeremy

Popularity: The name Jere ranked 1213th in popularity for males of all ages in a sample of the 1990 US Census.

Though this name appears on the 1990 U.S. Census lists, it is used by only a small percentage of the general population.

Narrative: So bitter and tempestuous were the moral exhortations of the Jewish prophet Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah in English) that any communication similarly laden with condemnation and predictions of doom has come to be called a ''jeremiad'' in his honor.

Curiously, none of this fire and brimstone descended upon Jeremy; it evolved from the prophet's name without picking up any of its stormy associations.