Zion
Zion was given to 2,496 boys in 2025, #142 among boys’ names; 53,897 Americans have been recorded with it since 1917 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 53,400 Americans named Zion and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 11 years old and half are between 5 and 18.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Zion by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Zion mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Zion is “a male given name from Hebrew.”
Early New High German Zioninflu. From Middle English Sion, from Old English Syon, from Ecclesiastical Latin Sīōn, from Koine Greek Σῑών (Sīṓn), from Biblical Hebrew צִיּוֹן (ṣiyyôn). Initial Z- was likely under influence from Early New High German Zion, itself influenced by the Ashkenazi pronunciation /t͡s/.
/ˈzaɪ.ən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Zion?
#142 among boys’ names, 2025
Zion rose from #227 in 2015 to #142 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.88 to 1.5 per 1,000.
3,020 babies in 2023, the peak
Zion peaked in 2023, when 3,020 babies were given it (2,889 boys, #125 among boys’ names). The 2,590 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 86% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 94 | #2,035 | 2,496 | #142 |
| 2024 | 105 | #1,912 | 2,369 | #152 |
| 2023 | 131 | #1,602 | 2,889 | #125 |
| 2022 | 139 | #1,547 | 2,634 | #143 |
| 2021 | 150 | #1,440 | 2,769 | #136 |
| 2020 | 186 | #1,230 | 2,536 | #143 |
| 2019 | 205 | #1,169 | 2,551 | #153 |
| 2018 | 248 | #1,042 | 2,183 | #181 |
| 2017 | 287 | #924 | 1,978 | #199 |
| 2016 | 298 | #927 | 1,849 | #213 |
Every recorded year (53)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 309 | #895 | 1,694 | #227 |
| 2014 | 298 | #910 | 1,484 | #254 |
| 2013 | 328 | #822 | 1,531 | #236 |
| 2012 | 354 | #778 | 1,533 | #235 |
| 2011 | 472 | #613 | 1,456 | #245 |
| 2010 | 414 | #691 | 1,530 | #229 |
| 2009 | 394 | #736 | 1,473 | #240 |
| 2008 | 435 | #695 | 1,601 | #230 |
| 2007 | 524 | #575 | 1,553 | #234 |
| 2006 | 337 | #811 | 1,302 | #265 |
| 2005 | 248 | #988 | 1,120 | #293 |
| 2004 | 212 | #1,085 | 1,008 | #311 |
| 2003 | 137 | #1,444 | 879 | #329 |
| 2002 | 125 | #1,518 | 828 | #333 |
| 2001 | 143 | #1,346 | 867 | #324 |
| 2000 | 156 | #1,259 | 1,004 | #300 |
| 1999 | 167 | #1,166 | 1,070 | #274 |
| 1998 | 43 | #3,010 | 242 | #695 |
| 1997 | 22 | #4,812 | 70 | #1,505 |
| 1996 | 20 | #5,059 | 61 | #1,612 |
| 1995 | 10 | #8,757 | 40 | #2,096 |
| 1994 | 11 | #8,115 | 37 | #2,213 |
| 1993 | 5 | #15,789 | 27 | #2,690 |
| 1992 | 8 | #10,470 | 31 | #2,406 |
| 1991 | under 5 | 18 | #3,455 | |
| 1990 | under 5 | 9 | #5,812 | |
| 1989 | 6 | #12,355 | 9 | #5,607 |
| 1988 | under 5 | 12 | #4,155 | |
| 1987 | under 5 | 13 | #3,725 | |
| 1985 | 5 | #12,498 | 9 | #4,692 |
| 1984 | under 5 | 6 | #6,309 | |
| 1983 | under 5 | 10 | #4,137 | |
| 1982 | under 5 | 11 | #3,962 | |
| 1981 | under 5 | 10 | #4,150 | |
| 1980 | under 5 | 6 | #6,244 | |
| 1979 | under 5 | 8 | #4,839 | |
| 1978 | under 5 | 9 | #4,153 | |
| 1977 | under 5 | 8 | #4,579 | |
| 1976 | under 5 | 7 | #4,932 | |
| 1975 | under 5 | 8 | #4,306 | |
| 1974 | under 5 | 12 | #3,117 | |
| 1973 | under 5 | 5 | #5,874 | |
| 1917 | under 5 | 6 | #3,979 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Zion a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 53,897 Americans recorded as Zion, 13% are girls and 87% boys. In 2025 it went to 94 girls and 2,496 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Zion: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Zion, and how old are they?
53,400 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 53,897 Americans ever recorded as Zion. The median Zion alive today is 11 years old; half are between 5 and 18.
The 2020 Census counted 30,865 people named Zion (5,302 women and girls, 25,563 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 37,741 born in the U.S. The Census count is 18% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 57 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 354 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 21,400 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 31,500 |
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 Zion born?
The states with the most babies named Zion are California, Texas and Florida, with 30% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 271 | #147 | 0.7× |
| Texas | 269 | #149 | 0.8× |
| Florida | 217 | #106 | 1.5× |
| New York | 145 | #132 | 1.0× |
| Pennsylvania | 108 | #128 | 1.1× |
| Georgia | 107 | #109 | 2.0× |
| North Carolina | 84 | #155 | 1.4× |
| Ohio | 78 | #171 | 0.9× |
| Michigan | 75 | #135 | 0.8× |
| Arizona | 66 | #134 | 0.6× |
Where Zion is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Zion is most over-represented in Hawaii: since 1917 it was given 2.2 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 Zion 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 65,969 babies since 1880, Zion is the most given (82% of them). In 2025 it was given to 2,590 of their 3,156 babies (82%), 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 Zion
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 Zion and names like it
- Compare Zion and ZyonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sZion peaked in 2023.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Zion since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Zion: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2023The year the most babies were named Zion.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Zion alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with ZMost given first.