Zela — #13467 US girls' name

What the Data Says About Zela

The Social Security Administration has registered 597 babies named Zela between 1889 and 2024, spanning 136 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a girl's name, Zela currently holds the #13467 rank among girls for 2024. The name reached its historical peak in 1916, when 21 babies received it in a single year.

Decade-level aggregation shows that Zela performed strongest in the 1910s, accumulating 142 births during that ten-year window. Across the 11 decades of recorded activity, Zela shows a clear decline from its mid-century high. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in Texas, which accounts for 11 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by West Virginia. In total, SSA state-level files list Zela in 2 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.

No etymological entry is currently available for Zela in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 597 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.