Zulema
Zulema was given to 64 girls in 2025, #2,718 among girls’ names; 4,062 Americans have been recorded with it since 1889 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,540 Americans named Zulema and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (87% of everyone recorded); the median is 31 years old and half are between 17 and 47.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Zulema by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Zulema mean?
Wiktionary, Spanish section
Zulema is “a female given name”
/θuˈlema/
Meaning: Wiktionary, Spanish section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Zulema?
#2,718 among girls’ names, 2025
Zulema rose from #3,913 in 2015 to #2,718 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 21.8 to 39.8 per million.
106 babies in 1996, the peak
Zulema peaked in 1996, when 106 girls were given it, #1,516 among girls’ names. The 64 births of 2025 are 60% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 64 | #2,718 | 39.8 |
| 2024 | 57 | #2,929 | 35.2 |
| 2023 | 53 | #3,139 | 33.0 |
| 2022 | 76 | #2,424 | 46.3 |
| 2021 | 104 | #1,909 | 63.4 |
| 2020 | 85 | #2,155 | 52.6 |
| 2019 | 55 | #3,001 | 32.8 |
| 2018 | 50 | #3,243 | 29.4 |
| 2017 | 50 | #3,245 | 29.0 |
| 2016 | 37 | #4,081 | 20.9 |
Every recorded year (113)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 39 | #3,913 | 21.8 |
| 2014 | 38 | #4,000 | 21.3 |
| 2013 | 31 | #4,642 | 17.7 |
| 2012 | 40 | #3,913 | 22.7 |
| 2011 | 39 | #3,914 | 22.2 |
| 2010 | 45 | #3,570 | 25.3 |
| 2009 | 52 | #3,249 | 28.3 |
| 2008 | 46 | #3,582 | 24.3 |
| 2007 | 75 | #2,508 | 39.0 |
| 2006 | 60 | #2,914 | 31.6 |
| 2005 | 58 | #2,860 | 31.4 |
| 2004 | 61 | #2,705 | 33.2 |
| 2003 | 65 | #2,518 | 35.6 |
| 2002 | 54 | #2,814 | 30.1 |
| 2001 | 50 | #2,919 | 27.8 |
| 2000 | 71 | #2,231 | 39.1 |
| 1999 | 64 | #2,339 | 36.1 |
| 1998 | 60 | #2,366 | 34.0 |
| 1997 | 96 | #1,653 | 55.1 |
| 1996 | 106 | #1,516 | 60.5 |
| 1995 | 95 | #1,593 | 54.0 |
| 1994 | 77 | #1,856 | 43.1 |
| 1993 | 80 | #1,825 | 44.2 |
| 1992 | 68 | #2,027 | 36.9 |
| 1991 | 74 | #1,906 | 39.5 |
| 1990 | 84 | #1,750 | 44.2 |
| 1989 | 41 | #2,762 | 22.2 |
| 1988 | 40 | #2,694 | 22.5 |
| 1987 | 41 | #2,528 | 23.6 |
| 1986 | 36 | #2,722 | 21.0 |
| 1985 | 39 | #2,543 | 22.7 |
| 1984 | 39 | #2,468 | 23.2 |
| 1983 | 44 | #2,234 | 26.3 |
| 1982 | 44 | #2,287 | 26.0 |
| 1981 | 48 | #2,157 | 28.8 |
| 1980 | 40 | #2,439 | 24.1 |
| 1979 | 54 | #1,951 | 33.6 |
| 1978 | 42 | #2,236 | 27.4 |
| 1977 | 42 | #2,215 | 27.4 |
| 1976 | 34 | #2,438 | 23.2 |
| 1975 | 55 | #1,728 | 37.7 |
| 1974 | 55 | #1,687 | 37.5 |
| 1973 | 53 | #1,713 | 36.3 |
| 1972 | 42 | #1,974 | 27.6 |
| 1971 | 29 | #2,598 | 17.4 |
| 1970 | 34 | #2,306 | 19.4 |
| 1969 | 27 | #2,584 | 16.0 |
| 1968 | 29 | #2,295 | 17.7 |
| 1967 | 18 | #3,083 | 10.9 |
| 1966 | 28 | #2,306 | 16.5 |
| 1965 | 15 | #3,400 | 8.5 |
| 1964 | 23 | #2,673 | 12.1 |
| 1963 | 19 | #2,958 | 9.9 |
| 1962 | 23 | #2,603 | 11.7 |
| 1961 | 21 | #2,750 | 10.4 |
| 1960 | 27 | #2,305 | 13.4 |
| 1959 | 23 | #2,455 | 11.4 |
| 1958 | 20 | #2,661 | 9.9 |
| 1957 | 22 | #2,484 | 10.8 |
| 1956 | 22 | #2,451 | 11.0 |
| 1955 | 20 | #2,551 | 10.2 |
| 1954 | 15 | #3,017 | 7.7 |
| 1953 | 17 | #2,697 | 9.0 |
| 1952 | 18 | #2,579 | 9.7 |
| 1951 | 19 | #2,389 | 10.6 |
| 1950 | 18 | #2,434 | 10.5 |
| 1949 | 21 | #2,210 | 12.3 |
| 1948 | 24 | #2,006 | 14.1 |
| 1947 | 22 | #2,144 | 12.4 |
| 1946 | 13 | #2,878 | 8.3 |
| 1945 | 13 | #2,596 | 9.9 |
| 1944 | 11 | #2,944 | 8.3 |
| 1943 | 22 | #1,898 | 15.8 |
| 1942 | 18 | #2,115 | 13.3 |
| 1941 | 21 | #1,809 | 17.4 |
| 1940 | 18 | #1,963 | 15.7 |
| 1939 | 19 | #1,880 | 17.3 |
| 1938 | 17 | #2,020 | 15.4 |
| 1937 | 8 | #3,432 | 7.5 |
| 1936 | 14 | #2,261 | 13.5 |
| 1935 | 11 | #2,728 | 10.5 |
| 1934 | 11 | #2,739 | 10.5 |
| 1933 | 16 | #2,050 | 15.9 |
| 1932 | 5 | #5,096 | 4.7 |
| 1931 | 25 | #1,547 | 23.5 |
| 1930 | 20 | #1,873 | 17.8 |
| 1929 | 21 | #1,823 | 18.8 |
| 1928 | 17 | #2,192 | 14.7 |
| 1927 | 21 | #1,933 | 17.6 |
| 1926 | 9 | #3,562 | 7.6 |
| 1925 | 17 | #2,281 | 14.0 |
| 1924 | 14 | #2,659 | 11.2 |
| 1923 | 8 | #3,969 | 6.6 |
| 1922 | 14 | #2,610 | 11.7 |
| 1921 | 11 | #3,162 | 8.9 |
| 1920 | 13 | #2,730 | 10.8 |
| 1919 | 9 | #3,449 | 8.0 |
| 1918 | 14 | #2,517 | 12.1 |
| 1917 | 6 | #4,590 | 5.5 |
| 1916 | 9 | #3,255 | 8.6 |
| 1915 | 5 | #4,965 | 5.1 |
| 1905 | 5 | #2,233 | 17.1 |
| 1889 | 5 | #1,477 | 28.0 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Zulema a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Zulema has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 113 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Zulema: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Zulema, and how old are they?
3,540 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 87% of the 4,062 Americans ever recorded as Zulema. The median Zulema alive today is 31 years old; half are between 17 and 47.
The 2020 Census counted 5,541 people named Zulema (5,531 women and girls, 10 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,227 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.7 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 84 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 302 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 557 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 932 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 925 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 735 |
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 Zulema born?
The states with the most babies named Zulema are California, Texas and Illinois, with 100% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 23 | #1,148 | 2.5× |
| Texas | 11 | #2,036 | 4.6× |
| Illinois | 5 | #1,635 | 0.4× |
Where Zulema is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Zulema is most over-represented in Texas: since 1910 it was given 4.6 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 Zulema 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 6 names spelled alike, given to 7,516 babies since 1880, Zulema is the most given (54% of them). In 2025 it was given to 64 of their 121 babies (53%), 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 Zulema
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 Zulema and names like it
- Compare Zulema and ZulmaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sZulema peaked in 1996.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Zulema since 1910.
- Spanish namesWiktionary’s origin for Zulema: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1996The year the most babies were named Zulema.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Zulema alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with ZMost given first.