Zebulon
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "exalted" or "honored".
Name Census estimates that about 1,999 living Americans carry the first name Zebulon. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zebulon today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zebulon births was 1979 (125 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zebulon. 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.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 171,463 Americans
Peak year
1979
125 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,411
Tracked since 1891
Census
Zebulon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,605 people with the first name Zebulon, which placed it at #8,878 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
#8,878
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,605 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zebulon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zebulon is White at 85.1%. The next largest groups are Black (6.2%) and Two or More Races (5.1%). 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 Zebulon 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 Zebulon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.1% · 1,366
- Black or African American6.2% · 99
- Two or more races5.1% · 82
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 37
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 10
Popularity
Zebulon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zebulon from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 610 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zebulon 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 Zebulon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zebulons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. North Carolina, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Zebulon, while New York, Alabama, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zebulon
The name Zebulon has its origins in ancient Hebrew, derived from the biblical figure Zebulun, one of the twelve sons of Jacob mentioned in the Book of Genesis. The name is believed to be derived from the Hebrew verb "zaval," meaning "to dwell," or the noun "zebul," meaning "exalted dwelling."
In the biblical account, Zebulun was one of the twelve tribes of Israel, and the land allotted to his tribe in Canaan was bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the west and the Sea of Galilee on the east. The name Zebulon has been used throughout Jewish and Christian history, often reflecting a connection to the biblical tribes or a desire for divine favor.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zebulon appears in the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. In this text, the name is rendered as "Zeboulōn" or "Zabulōn." The name is also mentioned in the New Testament, where it is written as "Zebulun" or "Zabulon" in various manuscripts.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Zebulon. One of the earliest was Zebulon Pike (1779-1813), an American explorer and soldier best known for leading expeditions to explore the southern and western territories of the United States.
Another famous Zebulon was Zebulon Baird Vance (1830-1894), a American military officer and politician who served as the Governor of North Carolina during the American Civil War and later as a U.S. Senator.
In the realm of literature, Zebulon Pike also lent his name to the fictional character of Zebulon Pike in the novel "Narrative of a Journey Down the Ohio and Mississippi in 1789-90" by Thomas Cresap.
The name Zebulon has also been borne by several religious figures, including Zebulon Hollowell (1742-1817), a Baptist minister and one of the founders of the Baptist Church in Virginia, and Zebulon Colvert (1793-1859), a Methodist minister and educator who was instrumental in establishing several institutions of higher education in the United States.
Finally, in more recent times, Zebulon Simentov (1907-1998) was a prominent Israeli diplomat and ambassador who played a significant role in establishing diplomatic relations between Israel and various countries in the early years of the state's existence.
People
Zebulon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zebulon 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
Zebulon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zebulon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,999 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zebulon 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 171,463 US residents.
Is Zebulon a common name?
We classify Zebulon as "Rare". It ranks above 93.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,129 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zebulon most popular?
The single biggest year for Zebulon was 1979, when 125 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zebulon is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zebulon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,605 people with the name Zebulon, or 0.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,878 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 Zebulon 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 Zebulon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zebulon appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,602 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Zebulon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zebulon is White at 85.1%. The next largest groups are Black (6.2%) and Two or More Races (5.1%). 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 Zebulon most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Zebulon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.1% (1,366 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 Zebulon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zebulon a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zebulon 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 Zebulon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zebulon 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 Zebulon 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 are called Zebulon?
Find out how many people have the name Zebulon on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.