Zev
Zev was given to 277 boys in 2025, #866 among boys’ names; 5,153 Americans have been recorded with it since 1951 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,020 Americans named Zev and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 12 years old and half are between 5 and 23.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Zev by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Zev mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Zev is “a male given name from Hebrew found in the Jewish demographic” Its etymology gives the sense “wolf” (זאב).
From Hebrew זאב (ze'év, “wolf”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Zev?
#866 among boys’ names, 2025
Zev rose from #1,167 in 2015 to #866 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.08 to 0.16 per 1,000.
277 babies in 2025, the peak
Zev peaked in 2025, when 277 boys were given it, #866 among boys’ names. In 2024 it went to 263 boys.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 277 | #866 | 0.16 |
| 2024 | 263 | #901 | 0.15 |
| 2023 | 267 | #879 | 0.16 |
| 2022 | 239 | #952 | 0.14 |
| 2021 | 227 | #981 | 0.13 |
| 2020 | 250 | #901 | 0.14 |
| 2019 | 195 | #1,053 | 0.11 |
| 2018 | 215 | #969 | 0.12 |
| 2017 | 193 | #1,047 | 0.10 |
| 2016 | 161 | #1,182 | 0.08 |
Every recorded year (74)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 160 | #1,167 | 0.08 |
| 2014 | 153 | #1,204 | 0.08 |
| 2013 | 160 | #1,140 | 0.08 |
| 2012 | 150 | #1,200 | 0.08 |
| 2011 | 122 | #1,376 | 0.06 |
| 2010 | 133 | #1,298 | 0.07 |
| 2009 | 115 | #1,458 | 0.06 |
| 2008 | 117 | #1,435 | 0.06 |
| 2007 | 119 | #1,386 | 0.06 |
| 2006 | 115 | #1,390 | 0.06 |
| 2005 | 78 | #1,721 | 0.04 |
| 2004 | 74 | #1,727 | 0.04 |
| 2003 | 75 | #1,669 | 0.04 |
| 2002 | 71 | #1,678 | 0.04 |
| 2001 | 74 | #1,612 | 0.04 |
| 2000 | 51 | #2,010 | 0.03 |
| 1999 | 57 | #1,774 | 0.03 |
| 1998 | 57 | #1,787 | 0.03 |
| 1997 | 50 | #1,886 | 0.03 |
| 1996 | 43 | #2,041 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 49 | #1,795 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 37 | #2,212 | 0.02 |
| 1993 | 39 | #2,085 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 45 | #1,838 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 35 | #2,136 | 0.02 |
| 1990 | 41 | #1,903 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 33 | #2,147 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 32 | #2,029 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 27 | #2,210 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 23 | #2,426 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 23 | #2,355 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 23 | #2,290 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 26 | #2,083 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 25 | #2,164 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 22 | #2,336 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 27 | #2,057 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 24 | #2,155 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 27 | #1,912 | 0.02 |
| 1977 | 17 | #2,663 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 25 | #1,997 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 24 | #1,999 | 0.02 |
| 1974 | 22 | #2,049 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 12 | #3,010 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 11 | #3,149 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 8 | #3,960 | under 0.01 |
| 1970 | 20 | #2,056 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 11 | #2,859 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 10 | #2,905 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 5 | #4,549 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 9 | #2,984 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 13 | #2,364 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 8 | #3,280 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 11 | #2,670 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 12 | #2,502 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 10 | #2,898 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 16 | #2,119 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 21 | #1,804 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 16 | #2,091 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 9 | #3,022 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 8 | #3,214 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 10 | #2,762 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 12 | #2,447 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 8 | #3,092 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 6 | #3,711 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Zev a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Zev has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 74 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Zev: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Zev, and how old are they?
5,020 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 5,153 Americans ever recorded as Zev. The median Zev alive today is 12 years old; half are between 5 and 23.
The 2020 Census counted 3,408 people named Zev (24 women and girls, 3,384 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,600 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 106 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 237 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 498 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,440 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,740 |
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 Zev born?
The states with the most babies named Zev are New York, New Jersey and California, with 80% of its births recorded by state in 2025; New Jersey is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 112 | #172 | 6.9× |
| New Jersey | 46 | #211 | 4.9× |
| California | 25 | #933 | 0.7× |
| Florida | 12 | #1,125 | 0.3× |
| Texas | 11 | #1,650 | 0.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 9 | #911 | 0.3× |
| Illinois | 5 | #1,481 | 0.3× |
| Maryland | 5 | #922 | 0.6× |
| Georgia | 5 | #1,554 | 0.1× |
Where Zev is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Zev is most over-represented in New York: since 1951 it was given 6.9 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 Zev 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 5,261 babies since 1880, Zev is the most given (98% of them). In 2025 it was given to 277 of their 283 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 Zev
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 Zev and names like it
- Compare Zev and ZeevBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sZev peaked in 2025.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Zev since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Zev: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Zev.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Zev alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with ZMost given first.