Zac
A diminutive of the Hebrew masculine name Zachary, meaning "the Lord remembers".
Name Census estimates that about 1,534 living Americans carry the first name Zac. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zac today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zac births was 2014 (84 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zac. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Zac with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 223,438 Americans
Peak year
2014
84 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,379
Tracked since 1957
Census
Zac in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,467 people with the first name Zac, which placed it at #3,299 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#3,299
National first-name rank
People counted
6.5K
6,467 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zac
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zac is White at 82.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.3%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Zac described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Zac at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.1% · 5,312
- Hispanic or Latino7.3% · 473
- Two or more races3.7% · 241
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 219
- Black or African American2.6% · 165
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 57
Popularity
Zac: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zac from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 692 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zac remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zac by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Zac during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zacs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Zac, while Pennsylvania, Illinois, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 65 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zac
Zac is a diminutive form of the Hebrew name Zachary, which means "the Lord remembers" or "God has remembered." The name traces its origins back to ancient Israel, with roots in the Old Testament. It is derived from the Hebrew word "zachar," meaning "to remember."
The earliest recorded use of the name Zachary can be found in the Bible, particularly in the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah. In these texts, Zachary is mentioned as a priest who returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile.
One of the most notable historical figures bearing the name Zac is Zacchaeus, a tax collector mentioned in the New Testament Gospel of Luke. According to the biblical account, Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus as he passed through Jericho.
In the 4th century, Saint Zachary was a Pope who reigned from 679 to 689 AD. He is remembered for his efforts in promoting church reform and defending the faith against heresies.
During the Middle Ages, Zac remained a popular name among Christians, particularly in Europe. One notable bearer of the name was Zachary Wheeler (1634-1696), an English clergyman and author who wrote extensively on theological topics.
In the 17th century, Zachary Boyd (1585-1653) was a Scottish minister and scholar who served as the rector of the University of Glasgow and authored several works on religious subjects.
As the name spread to other cultures and languages, it took on various spellings and forms, including Zac, Zach, and Zack. In the 19th century, Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) was a prominent American military leader who served as the 12th President of the United States from 1849 to 1850.
People
Zac + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zac as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Z
Other first names starting with Z with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Zac: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zac?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,534 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zac going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 223,438 US residents.
Is Zac a common name?
We classify Zac as "Rare". It ranks above 92.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,563 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zac most popular?
The single biggest year for Zac was 2014, when 84 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zac is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zac in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,467 people with the name Zac, or 2.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,299 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Zac in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Zac?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zac appears almost entirely male. Of the 6,471 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Zac?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zac is White at 82.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.3%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Zac most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Zac in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.1% (5,312 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Zac in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zac a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zac in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Zac still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zac in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Zac can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Zac as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.