Zelia
Zelia was given to 33 girls in 2025, #4,350 among girls’ names; 1,177 Americans have been recorded with it since 1883 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Zelia by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Zelia?
#4,350 among girls’ names, 2025
Zelia rose from #5,453 in 2015 to #4,350 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 14.0 to 20.5 per million.
33 babies in 2025, the peak
Zelia peaked in 2025, when 33 girls were given it, #4,350 among girls’ names. In 2024 it went to 23 girls.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 33 | #4,350 | 20.5 |
| 2024 | 23 | #5,606 | 14.2 |
| 2023 | 21 | #5,951 | 13.1 |
| 2022 | 23 | #5,628 | 14.0 |
| 2021 | 17 | #6,957 | 10.4 |
| 2020 | 19 | #6,316 | 11.8 |
| 2019 | 17 | #7,017 | 10.1 |
| 2018 | 21 | #6,001 | 12.3 |
| 2017 | 18 | #6,800 | 10.4 |
| 2016 | 23 | #5,789 | 13.0 |
Every recorded year (102)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 25 | #5,453 | 14.0 |
| 2014 | 19 | #6,706 | 10.6 |
| 2013 | 22 | #6,007 | 12.5 |
| 2012 | 18 | #7,134 | 10.2 |
| 2011 | 12 | #9,715 | 6.8 |
| 2010 | 17 | #7,501 | 9.6 |
| 2009 | 22 | #6,309 | 12.0 |
| 2008 | 21 | #6,552 | 11.1 |
| 2007 | 12 | #10,120 | 6.2 |
| 2006 | 14 | #8,705 | 7.4 |
| 2005 | 16 | #7,490 | 8.7 |
| 2004 | 5 | #18,802 | 2.7 |
| 2003 | 14 | #7,990 | 7.7 |
| 2002 | 6 | #15,408 | 3.3 |
| 2001 | 6 | #15,333 | 3.3 |
| 2000 | 7 | #13,141 | 3.9 |
| 1999 | 6 | #14,390 | 3.4 |
| 1997 | 5 | #16,133 | 2.9 |
| 1996 | 8 | #10,557 | 4.6 |
| 1984 | 6 | #10,411 | 3.6 |
| 1976 | 7 | #8,151 | 4.8 |
| 1973 | 5 | #9,802 | 3.4 |
| 1972 | 6 | #8,283 | 3.9 |
| 1968 | 5 | #8,194 | 3.0 |
| 1965 | 8 | #5,285 | 4.5 |
| 1964 | 5 | #7,804 | 2.6 |
| 1963 | 5 | #7,657 | 2.6 |
| 1961 | 5 | #7,523 | 2.5 |
| 1956 | 5 | #6,888 | 2.5 |
| 1955 | 8 | #4,737 | 4.1 |
| 1954 | 7 | #5,144 | 3.6 |
| 1953 | 7 | #5,037 | 3.7 |
| 1951 | 6 | #5,405 | 3.3 |
| 1950 | 5 | #6,101 | 2.9 |
| 1947 | 8 | #4,340 | 4.5 |
| 1946 | 6 | #4,955 | 3.8 |
| 1944 | 7 | #4,049 | 5.3 |
| 1942 | 7 | #4,118 | 5.2 |
| 1941 | 6 | #4,414 | 5.0 |
| 1940 | 11 | #2,734 | 9.6 |
| 1939 | 5 | #4,944 | 4.6 |
| 1938 | 5 | #4,990 | 4.5 |
| 1937 | 6 | #4,249 | 5.6 |
| 1935 | 5 | #4,888 | 4.8 |
| 1934 | 7 | #3,797 | 6.7 |
| 1933 | 6 | #4,214 | 6.0 |
| 1932 | 9 | #3,271 | 8.4 |
| 1931 | 13 | #2,424 | 12.2 |
| 1930 | 7 | #4,039 | 6.2 |
| 1929 | 12 | #2,735 | 10.7 |
| 1928 | 9 | #3,430 | 7.8 |
| 1927 | 12 | #2,856 | 10.1 |
| 1926 | 17 | #2,255 | 14.3 |
| 1925 | 11 | #3,113 | 9.0 |
| 1924 | 19 | #2,135 | 15.2 |
| 1923 | 15 | #2,462 | 12.4 |
| 1922 | 17 | #2,288 | 14.2 |
| 1921 | 21 | #1,986 | 17.0 |
| 1920 | 10 | #3,338 | 8.3 |
| 1919 | 19 | #1,988 | 16.8 |
| 1918 | 23 | #1,753 | 19.9 |
| 1917 | 10 | #3,086 | 9.2 |
| 1916 | 15 | #2,244 | 14.4 |
| 1915 | 20 | #1,737 | 20.3 |
| 1914 | 11 | #2,262 | 14.4 |
| 1913 | 23 | #1,175 | 36.8 |
| 1912 | 17 | #1,351 | 30.5 |
| 1911 | 6 | #2,458 | 14.3 |
| 1910 | 14 | #1,266 | 35.3 |
| 1909 | 9 | #1,605 | 25.9 |
| 1908 | 10 | #1,438 | 29.9 |
| 1907 | 7 | #1,818 | 22.0 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,949 | 20.3 |
| 1905 | 5 | #2,227 | 17.1 |
| 1904 | 8 | #1,482 | 29.1 |
| 1903 | 5 | #2,079 | 19.1 |
| 1902 | 8 | #1,435 | 30.3 |
| 1901 | 12 | #1,005 | 50.1 |
| 1900 | 9 | #1,429 | 30.0 |
| 1899 | 18 | #790 | 77.2 |
| 1898 | 15 | #918 | 58.0 |
| 1897 | 6 | #1,547 | 25.6 |
| 1896 | 7 | #1,414 | 29.4 |
| 1895 | 10 | #1,120 | 42.8 |
| 1894 | 12 | #948 | 53.8 |
| 1893 | 10 | #1,019 | 47.0 |
| 1892 | 7 | #1,277 | 33.0 |
| 1890 | 11 | #871 | 57.8 |
| 1889 | 7 | #1,144 | 39.2 |
| 1888 | 10 | #893 | 56.0 |
| 1887 | 11 | #731 | 75.4 |
| 1883 | 5 | #1,051 | 44.5 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Zelia a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Zelia has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 102 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Zelia: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Zelia, and how old are they?
An estimated 581 Americans named Zelia and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (49% of everyone recorded); the median is 14 years old and half are between 7 and 25. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 980 people named Zelia (978 women and girls, 2 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 486 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.0 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 17,451 babies since 1880, Zelia is the third most given (6.7% of them). In 2025 it was given to 33 of their 318 babies (10%), again the third 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 Zelia
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 Zelia and names like it
- Compare Zelia and ZellaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sZelia peaked in 2025.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Zelia since 1910.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Zelia.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Zelia alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with ZMost given first.