Zooey
A whimsical and unique name of modern American origin.
Name Census estimates that about 1,090 living Americans carry the first name Zooey. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zooey today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zooey births was 2012 (194 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zooey. 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.
Key insights
- • Zooey 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
1.1K
~ 1 in 314,454 Americans
Peak year
2012
194 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#15,234
Tracked since 2003
Census
Zooey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 978 people with the first name Zooey, which placed it at #12,647 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
#12,647
National first-name rank
People counted
978
978 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zooey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zooey is White at 63.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.8%) and Two or More Races (8.4%). 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 Zooey 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 Zooey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.0% · 616
- Hispanic or Latino20.8% · 203
- Two or more races8.4% · 82
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.0% · 59
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 12
- Black or African American0.6% · 6
Popularity
Zooey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zooey from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 907 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zooey 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 Zooey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zooeys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Zooey, while Massachusetts, Georgia, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zooey
The given name Zooey is a relatively modern name with uncertain origins. It is thought to be a variation or diminutive form of the name Zoe, which has roots in Greek language and culture. The name Zoe is derived from the Greek word "zoe" meaning "life" or "alive".
While the name Zoe has ancient Greek origins dating back thousands of years, the spelling variation Zooey is believed to have emerged in the 20th century. It is unclear exactly when or where the name Zooey first appeared, but it likely gained popularity as a unique and whimsical variation of the more traditional Zoe.
There are no definitive records of the name Zooey being used in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records prior to the modern era. However, the name's connection to the Greek root "zoe" suggests it may have been informally used as a nickname or pet name in the past.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Zooey is the American actress and musician Zooey Deschanel, born in 1980. Deschanel's unique first name helped contribute to the name's increasing popularity in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Other notable individuals with the first name Zooey include:
1. Zooey Glass (born 1973), American actress known for her roles in the television series "The Black Donnellys" and "What I Like About You".
2. Zooey Jeremija (born 1989), Canadian actress and singer known for her roles in the television series "The Killing" and "The 100".
3. Zooey Miyoshi (born 1952), Japanese-American actress known for her roles in the films "Noriko's Dinner Table" and "The Replacement Killers".
4. Zooey Salembier (born 1995), Canadian actress known for her role in the television series "The Next Step".
5. Zooey Tate (born 1986), American singer-songwriter and musician known for her work in the indie rock genre.
While the name Zooey has gained popularity in recent decades, its origins and historical usage remain somewhat obscure. However, its connection to the Greek concept of "life" and its unique, whimsical spelling have contributed to its appeal as a modern given name.
People
Zooey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zooey 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
Zooey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zooey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,090 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zooey 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 314,454 US residents.
Is Zooey a common name?
We classify Zooey as "Rare". It ranks above 90.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,099 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zooey most popular?
The single biggest year for Zooey was 2012, when 194 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zooey 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 Zooey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 978 people with the name Zooey, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,647 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 Zooey 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 Zooey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zooey appears almost entirely female. Of the 984 people counted with this name, 99.1% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Zooey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zooey is White at 63.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.8%) and Two or More Races (8.4%). 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 Zooey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Zooey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.0% (616 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 Zooey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zooey a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zooey 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 Zooey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zooey 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 Zooey 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 the name Zooey?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.