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Zeb

#7,185 in 2025Boys' name

Short form of Zebulun

Zeb has been given to 2,750 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #7,185 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1979, with 65 recorded.

Babies named Zeb, 2025

1 in 276,000

Zeb over time, 1880–2025

Boys
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Zeb: meaning, origin, and history

Short form of Zebulun

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Zeb means

Zeb is a short form of Zebulun.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Zeb → Zebulun. The family’s meaning is “exalted house”, recorded in the naming reference for Zebulun.

Origin, language, and formation

Zeb is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Zebulun, Zebadiah, Zebedee and Zebulon.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,750 boys were recorded with the name Zeb between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 65 in 1979; its best national rank was #504 in 1888.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #6,286 in 2020 to #7,185 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #5,737 in 2015 to #7,185 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Zeb?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 276,000
12 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 142,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#7,185
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
191,493 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Zeb sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 191,493 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Zeb. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Zebs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Zeb was born before 1967 — so the typical Zeb is around 58 today.

Median birth year
1967
About 58 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
11.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
21.6%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,594
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 11.9% of all recorded uses (327).

Is Zeb rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−364
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−899
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,448
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.75×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
18.5%
Peak was 1979 (65)
Years since peak
46
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
29.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#504
1888

Where Zeb is used

Across 1910–2025, Zeb was most concentrated in North Carolina — about 1 in 8,333 boys, against 1 in 81,077 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

012 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1North Carolina1 in 8,333
  2. 2Alabama1 in —
  3. 3California1 in —
  4. 4Georgia1 in —
  5. 5Iowa1 in —
  6. 6Oregon1 in —
  7. 7Tennessee1 in —
  8. 8Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Zeb has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Zeb around the world

Where Zeb ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2024
    #5,120
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1979–2011
    #784
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Zeb

People whose public names include Zeb, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Zeb by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#7,185
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 899
Best rank ever
#504
1888
Peak year
1979
65 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,750
Count in 2025
12

Names similar to Zeb

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

ZebulonZebedeeZebulunZebadiahZebediahZebbieZebastianZebulanZebulinZebulenShahzebZebulaZebdeeZebulahShazebZebariahZebidiah

Names with a curve like Zeb

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Zeb, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

GerritElieEnosArmondDonatoBenjimanChristGastonHamiltonMarinoSampsonPascal

Sibling names for Zeb

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Zeb

Top names of 1979, Zeb's peak yearThe 1970s in fullOther names that peaked in 1888Boys' names starting with Z