Zelda
Zelda was given to 328 girls in 2025, #832 among girls’ names; 16,739 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 9,380 Americans named Zelda and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (56% of everyone recorded); the median is 11 years old and half are between 6 and 63.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Zelda by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Zelda mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Zelda is “a female given name from the Germanic languages.”
Shortened from Griselda.
/ˈzɛldə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Zelda?
#832 among girls’ names, 2025
Zelda fell from #649 in 2015 to #832 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.25 to 0.20 per 1,000.
526 babies in 2020, the peak
Zelda peaked in 2020, when 526 girls were given it, #559 among girls’ names. The 328 births of 2025 are 62% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 328 | #832 | 0.20 |
| 2024 | 377 | #749 | 0.23 |
| 2023 | 403 | #705 | 0.25 |
| 2022 | 435 | #672 | 0.27 |
| 2021 | 492 | #608 | 0.30 |
| 2020 | 526 | #559 | 0.33 |
| 2019 | 436 | #665 | 0.26 |
| 2018 | 442 | #668 | 0.26 |
| 2017 | 456 | #650 | 0.26 |
| 2016 | 426 | #688 | 0.24 |
Every recorded year (144)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 443 | #649 | 0.25 |
| 2014 | 214 | #1,160 | 0.12 |
| 2013 | 183 | #1,288 | 0.10 |
| 2012 | 139 | #1,574 | 0.08 |
| 2011 | 81 | #2,325 | 0.05 |
| 2010 | 69 | #2,641 | 0.04 |
| 2009 | 59 | #2,964 | 0.03 |
| 2008 | 54 | #3,156 | 0.03 |
| 2007 | 53 | #3,246 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 49 | #3,366 | 0.03 |
| 2005 | 40 | #3,724 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 30 | #4,594 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 29 | #4,529 | 0.02 |
| 2002 | 24 | #5,081 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 22 | #5,357 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 31 | #4,072 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 19 | #5,651 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 15 | #6,712 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 7 | #12,058 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 14 | #6,717 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 5 | #15,740 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 16 | #5,977 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 14 | #6,614 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 14 | #6,644 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 22 | #4,642 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 18 | #5,280 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 19 | #4,841 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 17 | #5,058 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 12 | #6,328 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 16 | #4,960 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 13 | #5,674 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 12 | #5,895 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 18 | #4,284 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 12 | #5,906 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 16 | #4,744 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 19 | #4,146 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 12 | #5,749 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 19 | #3,923 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 26 | #3,080 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 17 | #3,959 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 27 | #2,810 | 0.02 |
| 1974 | 29 | #2,614 | 0.02 |
| 1973 | 30 | #2,505 | 0.02 |
| 1972 | 39 | #2,055 | 0.03 |
| 1971 | 39 | #2,136 | 0.02 |
| 1970 | 67 | #1,504 | 0.04 |
| 1969 | 53 | #1,666 | 0.03 |
| 1968 | 95 | #1,098 | 0.06 |
| 1967 | 105 | #1,001 | 0.06 |
| 1966 | 117 | #943 | 0.07 |
| 1965 | 109 | #1,003 | 0.06 |
| 1964 | 133 | #907 | 0.07 |
| 1963 | 171 | #795 | 0.09 |
| 1962 | 178 | #782 | 0.09 |
| 1961 | 169 | #808 | 0.08 |
| 1960 | 135 | #914 | 0.07 |
| 1959 | 142 | #864 | 0.07 |
| 1958 | 131 | #896 | 0.07 |
| 1957 | 127 | #905 | 0.06 |
| 1956 | 141 | #838 | 0.07 |
| 1955 | 120 | #897 | 0.06 |
| 1954 | 107 | #934 | 0.06 |
| 1953 | 107 | #913 | 0.06 |
| 1952 | 96 | #963 | 0.05 |
| 1951 | 88 | #1,002 | 0.05 |
| 1950 | 101 | #888 | 0.06 |
| 1949 | 90 | #943 | 0.05 |
| 1948 | 108 | #843 | 0.06 |
| 1947 | 97 | #905 | 0.05 |
| 1946 | 122 | #740 | 0.08 |
| 1945 | 88 | #809 | 0.07 |
| 1944 | 111 | #717 | 0.08 |
| 1943 | 118 | #709 | 0.08 |
| 1942 | 106 | #733 | 0.08 |
| 1941 | 106 | #686 | 0.09 |
| 1940 | 128 | #621 | 0.11 |
| 1939 | 127 | #598 | 0.12 |
| 1938 | 145 | #569 | 0.13 |
| 1937 | 147 | #557 | 0.14 |
| 1936 | 124 | #594 | 0.12 |
| 1935 | 161 | #503 | 0.15 |
| 1934 | 189 | #471 | 0.18 |
| 1933 | 160 | #506 | 0.16 |
| 1932 | 197 | #470 | 0.18 |
| 1931 | 175 | #489 | 0.16 |
| 1930 | 225 | #450 | 0.20 |
| 1929 | 209 | #458 | 0.19 |
| 1928 | 233 | #448 | 0.20 |
| 1927 | 236 | #453 | 0.20 |
| 1926 | 231 | #444 | 0.19 |
| 1925 | 251 | #436 | 0.21 |
| 1924 | 250 | #442 | 0.20 |
| 1923 | 227 | #456 | 0.19 |
| 1922 | 251 | #417 | 0.21 |
| 1921 | 280 | #405 | 0.23 |
| 1920 | 208 | #472 | 0.17 |
| 1919 | 225 | #439 | 0.20 |
| 1918 | 250 | #416 | 0.22 |
| 1917 | 240 | #408 | 0.22 |
| 1916 | 258 | #389 | 0.25 |
| 1915 | 230 | #397 | 0.23 |
| 1914 | 159 | #427 | 0.21 |
| 1913 | 155 | #391 | 0.25 |
| 1912 | 134 | #400 | 0.24 |
| 1911 | 117 | #376 | 0.28 |
| 1910 | 86 | #431 | 0.22 |
| 1909 | 62 | #478 | 0.18 |
| 1908 | 86 | #390 | 0.26 |
| 1907 | 67 | #438 | 0.21 |
| 1906 | 64 | #433 | 0.22 |
| 1905 | 76 | #388 | 0.26 |
| 1904 | 68 | #396 | 0.25 |
| 1903 | 45 | #481 | 0.17 |
| 1902 | 38 | #527 | 0.14 |
| 1901 | 43 | #458 | 0.18 |
| 1900 | 46 | #503 | 0.15 |
| 1899 | 35 | #506 | 0.15 |
| 1898 | 38 | #509 | 0.15 |
| 1897 | 27 | #593 | 0.12 |
| 1896 | 31 | #552 | 0.13 |
| 1895 | 28 | #577 | 0.12 |
| 1894 | 25 | #596 | 0.11 |
| 1893 | 25 | #569 | 0.12 |
| 1892 | 15 | #795 | 0.07 |
| 1891 | 16 | #693 | 0.09 |
| 1890 | 14 | #757 | 0.07 |
| 1889 | 13 | #756 | 0.07 |
| 1888 | 11 | #835 | 0.06 |
| 1887 | 5 | #1,305 | 0.03 |
| 1886 | 8 | #894 | 0.06 |
| 1885 | 6 | #1,044 | 0.05 |
| 1884 | 7 | #928 | 0.05 |
| 1882 | 6 | #905 | 0.06 |
| 1880 | 6 | #834 | 0.07 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Zelda a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Zelda has been given almost only to girls: 5 boys in 144 years of records.
Girls and boys named Zelda: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Zelda, and how old are they?
9,380 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 56% of the 16,739 Americans ever recorded as Zelda. The median Zelda alive today is 11 years old; half are between 6 and 63.
The 2020 Census counted 7,424 people named Zelda (7,402 women and girls, 22 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 7,788 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 691 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,860 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 733 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 231 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 714 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 5,130 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Zelda born?
The states with the most babies named Zelda are California, Texas and New York, with 39% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 44 | #715 | 0.8× |
| Texas | 38 | #798 | 1.0× |
| New York | 25 | #678 | 1.3× |
| Illinois | 12 | #794 | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 12 | #800 | 0.6× |
| Georgia | 12 | #851 | 0.5× |
| Florida | 11 | #1,324 | 0.7× |
| Arizona | 11 | #631 | 0.6× |
| North Carolina | 10 | #972 | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 9 | #1,012 | 0.9× |
Where Zelda is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Zelda is most over-represented in New York: since 1910 it was given 1.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Zelda with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 16,844 babies since 1880, Zelda is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 328 of their 336 babies (98%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Zelda
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Zelda and names like it
- Compare Zelda and ZeldyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sZelda peaked in 2020.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Zelda since 1910.
- Germanic namesWiktionary’s origin for Zelda: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2020The year the most babies were named Zelda.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Zelda alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with ZMost given first.