Zion
Of Hebrew origin, a biblical place name meaning "highest point" or "memorial stone".
Name Census estimates that about 50,793 living Americans carry the first name Zion. It sits at #151 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 86.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Zion today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zion births was 2023 (3,014 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zion. 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 Zion with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Zion is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
51K
~ 1 in 6,748 Americans
Peak year
2023
3,014 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#151
Tracked since 1917
Census
Zion in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 30,871 people with the first name Zion, which placed it at #1,235 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
#1,235
National first-name rank
People counted
31K
30,871 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
10.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
65.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zion
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zion is Black at 65.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.2%) and White (10.5%). 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 Zion 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 Zion at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American65.2% · 20,136
- Hispanic or Latino12.2% · 3,774
- White10.5% · 3,256
- Two or more races8.3% · 2,569
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 978
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 158
Gender
Gender distribution for Zion
Zion leans heavily male at 86.5% of total registrations, but 6,928 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Zion as a male name
- Ranked #151 in 2024
- 2,359 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (2,883 births)
Zion as a female name
- Ranked #1,919 in 2024
- 104 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (524 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zion leans strongly male. 25,563 people counted with this name were male (82.8%), compared with 5,302 female bearers (17.2%).
Popularity
Zion: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zion from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 20,995 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zion remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zion 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 Zion during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zions live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, Florida, Texas recorded the most babies named Zion, while Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,001 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zion
The name Zion has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Biblical Hebrew word "Tziyon," which means "a monument raised up" or "a conical mountain." The name is closely associated with the historic city of Jerusalem, which was sometimes referred to as Zion in ancient texts.
In the Bible, Zion is mentioned numerous times, particularly in the Old Testament books of Isaiah, Psalms, and Lamentations. It is often used as a poetic and symbolic term for the city of Jerusalem, the land of Israel, and the kingdom of God. The name holds significant spiritual and religious meaning in Judeo-Christian traditions.
The earliest recorded use of the name Zion can be traced back to the 8th century BCE, when it appeared in biblical texts and ancient Hebrew scriptures. Over the centuries, the name has been used by various notable individuals throughout history.
One of the most prominent figures associated with the name Zion was Zion Pallas, a 17th-century Russian philosopher and polymath who lived from 1670 to 1718. Another notable bearer of the name was Zion Chase, an American preacher and theologian who lived from 1779 to 1849 and played a significant role in the Second Great Awakening.
In the 19th century, Zion Diogenes Theophilus, a Greek philosopher and writer, made significant contributions to the field of philosophy. He lived from 1810 to 1885. Zion Tsarnaev, a Chechen-American boxer who competed in the early 20th century, from 1895 to 1968, was also a notable figure with this name.
In more recent times, Zion Williamson, an American professional basketball player born in 2000, has gained widespread recognition for his exceptional athletic abilities and has carried the name Zion into the modern era.
While the name Zion has its roots in Hebrew culture and religious traditions, it has transcended its original context and has been adopted by various cultures and communities around the world, each imbuing it with their own unique meanings and interpretations.
People
Zion + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zion 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
Zion: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zion?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 50,793 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zion 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 6,748 US residents.
Is Zion a common name?
We classify Zion as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 51,273 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zion most popular?
The single biggest year for Zion was 2023, when 3,014 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zion is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zion in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 30,871 people with the name Zion, or 10.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,235 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 Zion 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 Zion?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zion leans strongly male. 25,563 people counted with this name were male (82.8%), compared with 5,302 female bearers (17.2%). 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 Zion?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zion is Black at 65.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.2%) and White (10.5%). 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 Zion most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zion in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.2% (20,136 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 Zion in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zion a male name?
Yes, 86.5% of people registered as Zion 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 Zion still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zion 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 Zion 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 common is the name Zion?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.