Zeynep
Zeynep was given to 90 girls in 2025, #2,098 among girls’ names; 1,454 Americans have been recorded with it since 1981 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,440 Americans named Zeynep 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 15.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Zeynep by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Zeynep mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Zeynep is “a female given name from Turkish.”
From Turkish Zeynep.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Zeynep?
#2,098 among girls’ names, 2025
Zeynep rose from #3,388 in 2015 to #2,098 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 26.9 to 56.0 per million.
138 babies in 2022, the peak
Zeynep peaked in 2022, when 138 girls were given it, #1,555 among girls’ names. The 90 births of 2025 are 65% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 90 | #2,098 | 56.0 |
| 2024 | 108 | #1,869 | 66.7 |
| 2023 | 130 | #1,613 | 81.0 |
| 2022 | 138 | #1,555 | 84.1 |
| 2021 | 84 | #2,231 | 51.2 |
| 2020 | 113 | #1,768 | 69.9 |
| 2019 | 49 | #3,270 | 29.2 |
| 2018 | 48 | #3,344 | 28.2 |
| 2017 | 59 | #2,871 | 34.2 |
| 2016 | 48 | #3,378 | 27.1 |
Every recorded year (39)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 48 | #3,388 | 26.9 |
| 2014 | 44 | #3,582 | 24.6 |
| 2013 | 42 | #3,700 | 23.9 |
| 2012 | 43 | #3,705 | 24.4 |
| 2011 | 49 | #3,347 | 27.9 |
| 2010 | 30 | #4,857 | 16.9 |
| 2009 | 27 | #5,375 | 14.7 |
| 2008 | 40 | #4,003 | 21.2 |
| 2007 | 33 | #4,565 | 17.2 |
| 2006 | 21 | #6,349 | 11.0 |
| 2005 | 17 | #7,130 | 9.2 |
| 2004 | 22 | #5,734 | 12.0 |
| 2003 | 20 | #6,047 | 10.9 |
| 2002 | 21 | #5,665 | 11.7 |
| 2001 | 18 | #6,312 | 10.0 |
| 2000 | 13 | #8,018 | 7.2 |
| 1999 | 13 | #7,704 | 7.3 |
| 1998 | 14 | #7,095 | 7.9 |
| 1997 | 10 | #9,011 | 5.7 |
| 1996 | 5 | #15,877 | 2.9 |
| 1995 | 8 | #10,505 | 4.5 |
| 1994 | 8 | #10,560 | 4.5 |
| 1992 | 8 | #10,468 | 4.3 |
| 1991 | 5 | #15,453 | 2.7 |
| 1990 | 5 | #15,222 | 2.6 |
| 1989 | 6 | #12,354 | 3.3 |
| 1984 | 6 | #10,413 | 3.6 |
| 1982 | 6 | #10,507 | 3.5 |
| 1981 | 5 | #12,192 | 3.0 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Zeynep a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Zeynep has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 39 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Zeynep: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Zeynep, and how old are they?
1,440 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 1,454 Americans ever recorded as Zeynep. The median Zeynep alive today is 8 years old; half are between 4 and 15.
The 2020 Census counted 1,619 people named Zeynep (1,613 women and girls, 6 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 813 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.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 60 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 387 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 995 |
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 Zeynep born?
The states with the most babies named Zeynep are Texas, California and New York, with 58% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 13 | #1,788 | 1.0× |
| California | 11 | #1,946 | 0.8× |
| New York | 6 | #2,068 | 1.8× |
| New Jersey | 6 | #1,166 | 2.4× |
| Illinois | 6 | #1,402 | 0.4× |
| Virginia | 5 | #1,376 | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 5 | #1,695 | 0.2× |
Where Zeynep is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Zeynep is most over-represented in New Jersey: since 1981 it was given 2.4 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 Zeynep 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 Zeynep
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 Zeynep and names like it
- Compare Zeynep and AlyaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sZeynep peaked in 2022.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Zeynep since 1910.
- Turkish namesWiktionary’s origin for Zeynep: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named Zeynep.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Zeynep alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with ZMost given first.