Zeta
The Greek letter representing the descending notation for instruments.
Name Census estimates that about 667 living Americans carry the first name Zeta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zeta today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zeta births was 2005 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zeta. 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 Zeta with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
667
~ 1 in 513,875 Americans
Peak year
2005
33 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,511
Tracked since 1888
Census
Zeta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 770 people with the first name Zeta, which placed it at #15,057 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
#15,057
National first-name rank
People counted
770
770 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zeta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zeta is White at 55.7%. The next largest groups are Black (20.1%) and Hispanic (12.1%). 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 Zeta 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 Zeta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.7% · 429
- Black or African American20.1% · 155
- Hispanic or Latino12.1% · 93
- Two or more races7.3% · 56
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 12
Popularity
Zeta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zeta from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 234 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Zeta remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zeta 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 Zeta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zetas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Zeta, while Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zeta
The name Zeta originates from the Greek alphabet, specifically the sixth letter, "zeta." Its origins can be traced back to ancient Greek culture, where it was used as a letter representing the voiced alveolar fricative sound /z/. The name itself is not believed to have carried any specific meaning beyond its use as a letter in the alphabet.
In ancient Greek texts, the letter zeta was commonly used to represent numbers, with the uppercase form (Ζ) representing the number 7 and the lowercase form (ζ) representing the number 6. This numeric association with the letter zeta is found in various mathematical and scientific works from ancient Greek scholars, such as Euclid's "Elements" and Ptolemy's "Almagest."
While the name Zeta was not widely used as a personal name in ancient Greece, there are a few notable individuals who bore this name or a variation of it in later periods. One such person was Zeta of Byzantium, a female philosopher who lived in the 5th century CE and was known for her work on the philosophy of language and logic.
In more recent history, the name Zeta gained popularity as a given name, particularly in the 20th century. One notable individual with this name was Zeta Phi Beta, an influential African American woman who co-founded the Zeta Phi Beta sorority in 1920 at Howard University. The sorority has played a significant role in promoting education and community service within the African American community.
Another notable figure with the name Zeta was Zeta Hendriquez, a Mexican painter and muralist who lived from 1919 to 2008. Her vibrant murals, which often depicted scenes of Mexican culture and history, adorned public buildings and spaces throughout Mexico.
In the field of science, Zeta Ophiuchi is the name given to a binary star system located in the constellation Ophiuchus. This system, consisting of a blue supergiant and a smaller companion, has been studied extensively by astronomers and is known for its unique characteristics.
While the name Zeta is not as common as many other given names, it has a rich history rooted in ancient Greek culture and has been borne by notable individuals throughout different periods and fields.
People
Zeta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zeta 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
Zeta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zeta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 667 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zeta 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 513,875 US residents.
Is Zeta a common name?
We classify Zeta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,338 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zeta most popular?
The single biggest year for Zeta was 2005, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zeta is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zeta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 770 people with the name Zeta, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,057 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 Zeta 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 Zeta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zeta leans strongly female. 757 people counted with this name were female (98.1%), compared with 15 male bearers (1.9%). 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 Zeta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zeta is White at 55.7%. The next largest groups are Black (20.1%) and Hispanic (12.1%). 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 Zeta most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Zeta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.7% (429 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 Zeta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zeta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zeta in the SSA data are female. 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 Zeta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zeta 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 Zeta 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 Zeta?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.