Zed
A masculine Arabic name meaning "increase" or "abundance."
Name Census estimates that about 347 living Americans carry the first name Zed. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zed today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zed births was 2018 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zed. 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 Zed with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
347
~ 1 in 987,765 Americans
Peak year
2018
18 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,167
Tracked since 1882
Census
Zed in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 463 people with the first name Zed, which placed it at #21,790 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
#21,790
National first-name rank
People counted
463
463 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zed
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zed is White at 62.4%. The next largest groups are Black (12.5%) and Hispanic (10.2%). 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 Zed 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 Zed at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.4% · 289
- Black or African American12.5% · 58
- Hispanic or Latino10.2% · 47
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.6% · 40
- Two or more races5.8% · 27
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 2
Popularity
Zed: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zed from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 100 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zed remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zed 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 Zed during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zeds live
Origin
Meaning and history of Zed
The name Zed originates from the Semitic languages and can be traced back to ancient Mesopotamia, where it was derived from the word "ẓdq," which means "righteousness" or "justice." This name gained prominence in the Middle East during the early centuries of the Common Era.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zed can be found in the Babylonian Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism compiled between the 3rd and 5th centuries CE. The name is mentioned in connection with various scholarly figures and religious leaders of that era.
In the 7th century CE, the name gained further significance with the rise of Islam. Zed was the name of a prominent companion of the Prophet Muhammad, known as Zed ibn Thabit. He played a crucial role in the compilation and preservation of the Quran, the holy book of Islam.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Zed was relatively uncommon outside of the Middle Eastern region. However, it resurfaced in Europe during the Renaissance period, particularly in Italy, where it was sometimes used as a variant of the name Zedekiah, which has Hebrew origins.
One notable individual named Zed was Zed al-Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet and Sufi mystic known for his profound works on spirituality and love. Another famous bearer of this name was Zed ibn Yahya al-Wadi'i, a 9th-century Arab mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the development of trigonometry.
In more recent history, the name Zed has been used by several influential figures, including Zed Seselja, an Australian politician and member of the Australian Senate, born in 1977. Additionally, Zed Williamson, an English actor and film producer born in 1968, has gained recognition for his work in the entertainment industry.
While the name Zed has deep roots in ancient cultures, it has maintained a distinct identity throughout the centuries, carrying with it a sense of righteousness and justice, as well as a connection to scholarly and artistic pursuits.
People
Zed + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zed 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
Zed: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zed?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 347 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zed 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 987,765 US residents.
Is Zed a common name?
We classify Zed as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 446 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zed most popular?
The single biggest year for Zed was 2018, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zed is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zed in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 463 people with the name Zed, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,790 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 Zed 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 Zed?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zed leans strongly male. 448 people counted with this name were male (97.0%), compared with 14 female bearers (3.0%). 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 Zed?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zed is White at 62.4%. The next largest groups are Black (12.5%) and Hispanic (10.2%). 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 Zed most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Zed in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.4% (289 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 Zed in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zed a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zed 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 Zed still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zed 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 Zed 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 Zed as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Zed, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.