Zeus
Zeus was given to 140 boys in 2025, #1,351 among boys’ names; 2,696 Americans have been recorded with it since 1973 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,670 Americans named Zeus and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 8 years old and half are between 4 and 14.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Zeus by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Zeus mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Zeus is “a male given name.”
Also “a representative given name for a dog.”
From Ancient Greek Ζεύς (Zeús). Doublet of Dyeus and Jove.
/zus/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Zeus?
#1,351 among boys’ names, 2025
Zeus rose from #1,462 in 2015 to #1,351 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 60.5 to 82.0 per million.
205 babies in 2024, the peak
Zeus peaked in 2024, when 205 boys were given it, #1,067 among boys’ names. The 140 births of 2025 are 68% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 140 | #1,351 | 0.08 |
| 2024 | 205 | #1,067 | 0.12 |
| 2023 | 180 | #1,160 | 0.11 |
| 2022 | 186 | #1,134 | 0.11 |
| 2021 | 174 | #1,155 | 0.10 |
| 2020 | 159 | #1,200 | 0.09 |
| 2019 | 176 | #1,117 | 0.10 |
| 2018 | 144 | #1,281 | 0.08 |
| 2017 | 152 | #1,212 | 0.08 |
| 2016 | 128 | #1,385 | 0.07 |
Every recorded year (45)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 116 | #1,462 | 0.06 |
| 2014 | 100 | #1,587 | 0.05 |
| 2013 | 85 | #1,731 | 0.04 |
| 2012 | 82 | #1,816 | 0.04 |
| 2011 | 76 | #1,864 | 0.04 |
| 2010 | 68 | #2,035 | 0.04 |
| 2009 | 53 | #2,449 | 0.03 |
| 2008 | 48 | #2,630 | 0.02 |
| 2007 | 39 | #3,022 | 0.02 |
| 2006 | 36 | #3,081 | 0.02 |
| 2005 | 43 | #2,609 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 23 | #3,998 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 28 | #3,358 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 30 | #3,089 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 32 | #2,924 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 31 | #2,915 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 24 | #3,371 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 18 | #4,014 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 13 | #4,953 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 9 | #6,488 | under 0.01 |
| 1995 | 6 | #8,854 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 8 | #6,958 | under 0.01 |
| 1993 | 7 | #7,630 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 12 | #4,862 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 5 | #9,480 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 8 | #6,220 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 6 | #7,261 | under 0.01 |
| 1987 | 5 | #8,144 | under 0.01 |
| 1986 | 5 | #7,819 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 5 | #7,576 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 7 | #5,555 | under 0.01 |
| 1982 | 7 | #5,616 | under 0.01 |
| 1979 | 7 | #5,351 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 5 | #6,854 | under 0.01 |
| 1973 | 5 | #5,873 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Zeus a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Zeus has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 45 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Zeus: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Zeus, and how old are they?
2,670 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 2,696 Americans ever recorded as Zeus. The median Zeus alive today is 8 years old; half are between 4 and 14.
The 2020 Census counted 1,628 people named Zeus (13 women and girls, 1,615 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,675 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 15 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 86 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 635 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,930 |
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 Zeus born?
The states with the most babies named Zeus are California, Texas and Illinois, with 65% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 27 | #883 | 1.9× |
| Texas | 20 | #1,134 | 1.5× |
| Illinois | 10 | #868 | 0.7× |
| New York | 9 | #1,295 | 0.6× |
| Arizona | 6 | #925 | 1.3× |
| North Carolina | 6 | #1,275 | 0.3× |
| Maryland | 5 | #921 | 0.5× |
| New Jersey | 5 | #1,185 | 0.3× |
Where Zeus is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Zeus is most over-represented in California: since 1973 it was given 1.9 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 boys’ 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 Zeus with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Zeus
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 Zeus and names like it
- Compare Zeus and AdlerBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sZeus peaked in 2024.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Zeus since 1910.
- The top names of 2024The year the most babies were named Zeus.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Zeus alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with ZMost given first.