Zella
Zella was given to 117 girls in 2025, #1,746 among girls’ names; 13,369 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 4,120 Americans named Zella and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (31% of everyone recorded); the median is 17 years old and half are between 8 and 73.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Zella by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Zella?
#1,746 among girls’ names, 2025
Zella fell from #1,469 in 2015 to #1,746 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 88.0 to 72.8 per million.
298 babies in 1917, the peak
Zella peaked in 1917, when 298 girls were given it, #365 among girls’ names. The 117 births of 2025 are 39% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 117 | #1,746 | 0.07 |
| 2024 | 109 | #1,851 | 0.07 |
| 2023 | 131 | #1,601 | 0.08 |
| 2022 | 156 | #1,442 | 0.10 |
| 2021 | 183 | #1,271 | 0.11 |
| 2020 | 124 | #1,667 | 0.08 |
| 2019 | 162 | #1,391 | 0.10 |
| 2018 | 166 | #1,366 | 0.10 |
| 2017 | 160 | #1,431 | 0.09 |
| 2016 | 156 | #1,479 | 0.09 |
Every recorded year (138)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 157 | #1,469 | 0.09 |
| 2014 | 84 | #2,255 | 0.05 |
| 2013 | 102 | #1,952 | 0.06 |
| 2012 | 92 | #2,094 | 0.05 |
| 2011 | 90 | #2,142 | 0.05 |
| 2010 | 71 | #2,588 | 0.04 |
| 2009 | 60 | #2,937 | 0.03 |
| 2008 | 53 | #3,220 | 0.03 |
| 2007 | 48 | #3,479 | 0.02 |
| 2006 | 40 | #3,852 | 0.02 |
| 2005 | 35 | #4,111 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 34 | #4,167 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 17 | #6,877 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 15 | #7,433 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 16 | #6,947 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 16 | #6,798 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 8 | #11,368 | under 0.01 |
| 1998 | 7 | #12,409 | under 0.01 |
| 1997 | 6 | #13,708 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 5 | #15,873 | under 0.01 |
| 1995 | 7 | #11,770 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 8 | #10,559 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 9 | #9,481 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 5 | #15,450 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 6 | #11,788 | under 0.01 |
| 1986 | 5 | #12,825 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 5 | #12,494 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 7 | #9,137 | under 0.01 |
| 1982 | 9 | #7,466 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 11 | #6,319 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 6 | #10,388 | under 0.01 |
| 1979 | 5 | #11,966 | under 0.01 |
| 1975 | 15 | #4,366 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 14 | #4,454 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 11 | #5,186 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 20 | #3,274 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 11 | #5,129 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 14 | #4,243 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 18 | #3,316 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 23 | #2,707 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 20 | #2,867 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 18 | #3,037 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 35 | #1,992 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 27 | #2,410 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 41 | #1,836 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 41 | #1,805 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 56 | #1,518 | 0.03 |
| 1960 | 37 | #1,884 | 0.02 |
| 1959 | 45 | #1,641 | 0.02 |
| 1958 | 44 | #1,628 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 39 | #1,752 | 0.02 |
| 1956 | 54 | #1,451 | 0.03 |
| 1955 | 50 | #1,443 | 0.03 |
| 1954 | 48 | #1,463 | 0.02 |
| 1953 | 60 | #1,259 | 0.03 |
| 1952 | 67 | #1,169 | 0.04 |
| 1951 | 75 | #1,076 | 0.04 |
| 1950 | 89 | #957 | 0.05 |
| 1949 | 83 | #990 | 0.05 |
| 1948 | 92 | #908 | 0.05 |
| 1947 | 99 | #890 | 0.06 |
| 1946 | 80 | #934 | 0.05 |
| 1945 | 98 | #761 | 0.07 |
| 1944 | 81 | #849 | 0.06 |
| 1943 | 113 | #730 | 0.08 |
| 1942 | 86 | #828 | 0.06 |
| 1941 | 78 | #820 | 0.06 |
| 1940 | 114 | #656 | 0.10 |
| 1939 | 113 | #647 | 0.10 |
| 1938 | 119 | #632 | 0.11 |
| 1937 | 110 | #651 | 0.10 |
| 1936 | 112 | #626 | 0.11 |
| 1935 | 131 | #560 | 0.12 |
| 1934 | 137 | #553 | 0.13 |
| 1933 | 151 | #520 | 0.15 |
| 1932 | 158 | #523 | 0.15 |
| 1931 | 159 | #523 | 0.15 |
| 1930 | 184 | #493 | 0.16 |
| 1929 | 179 | #506 | 0.16 |
| 1928 | 213 | #470 | 0.18 |
| 1927 | 190 | #511 | 0.16 |
| 1926 | 216 | #472 | 0.18 |
| 1925 | 228 | #458 | 0.19 |
| 1924 | 235 | #454 | 0.19 |
| 1923 | 267 | #408 | 0.22 |
| 1922 | 235 | #442 | 0.20 |
| 1921 | 280 | #406 | 0.23 |
| 1920 | 244 | #429 | 0.20 |
| 1919 | 255 | #405 | 0.23 |
| 1918 | 244 | #424 | 0.21 |
| 1917 | 298 | #365 | 0.28 |
| 1916 | 248 | #399 | 0.24 |
| 1915 | 265 | #371 | 0.27 |
| 1914 | 224 | #356 | 0.29 |
| 1913 | 199 | #343 | 0.32 |
| 1912 | 186 | #335 | 0.33 |
| 1911 | 144 | #330 | 0.34 |
| 1910 | 151 | #313 | 0.38 |
| 1909 | 131 | #317 | 0.38 |
| 1908 | 125 | #315 | 0.37 |
| 1907 | 123 | #315 | 0.39 |
| 1906 | 108 | #324 | 0.37 |
| 1905 | 110 | #323 | 0.38 |
| 1904 | 126 | #283 | 0.46 |
| 1903 | 132 | #270 | 0.50 |
| 1902 | 124 | #283 | 0.47 |
| 1901 | 122 | #268 | 0.51 |
| 1900 | 171 | #247 | 0.57 |
| 1899 | 102 | #293 | 0.44 |
| 1898 | 115 | #286 | 0.44 |
| 1897 | 128 | #252 | 0.55 |
| 1896 | 130 | #250 | 0.55 |
| 1895 | 137 | #235 | 0.59 |
| 1894 | 138 | #226 | 0.62 |
| 1893 | 109 | #253 | 0.51 |
| 1892 | 102 | #263 | 0.48 |
| 1891 | 115 | #226 | 0.62 |
| 1890 | 108 | #236 | 0.57 |
| 1889 | 96 | #239 | 0.54 |
| 1888 | 111 | #220 | 0.62 |
| 1887 | 67 | #258 | 0.46 |
| 1886 | 72 | #244 | 0.50 |
| 1885 | 56 | #265 | 0.42 |
| 1884 | 63 | #244 | 0.49 |
| 1883 | 55 | #243 | 0.49 |
| 1882 | 50 | #246 | 0.46 |
| 1881 | 38 | #267 | 0.41 |
| 1880 | 31 | #281 | 0.34 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Zella a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Zella has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 138 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Zella: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Zella, and how old are they?
4,120 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 31% of the 13,369 Americans ever recorded as Zella. The median Zella alive today is 17 years old; half are between 8 and 73.
The 2020 Census counted 3,534 people named Zella (3,534 women and girls, 0 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,988 born in the U.S. The Census count is 11% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 589 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 845 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 192 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 75 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 602 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,800 |
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 Zella born?
The states with the most babies named Zella are Kentucky, Texas and Tennessee, with 27% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Kentucky and Tennessee are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky | 704 | not ranked | 2.9× |
| Texas | 584 | #2,631 | 0.8× |
| Tennessee | 427 | #887 | 1.6× |
| Missouri | 425 | #925 | 1.6× |
| Oklahoma | 418 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Ohio | 378 | #1,033 | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 289 | #1,435 | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 279 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| West Virginia | 258 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| California | 253 | #2,091 | 0.4× |
Where Zella is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Zella is most over-represented in Kentucky: since 1910 it was given 2.9 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 Zella 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 8 names spelled alike, given to 17,451 babies since 1880, Zella is the most given (77% of them). In 2025 it was given to 117 of their 318 babies (37%), the second most given that year.
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 Zella
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 Zella and names like it
- Compare Zella and ZelieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sZella peaked in 1917.
- Kentucky’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Zella since 1910.
- The top names of 1917The year the most babies were named Zella.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Zella alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with ZMost given first.