Name Awesome

Zed

#9,696 in 2025Boys' name

God is righteous, through Zedekiah

Zed has been given to 454 babies in the U.S. since 1882. In 2025 it ranked #9,696 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2018, with 18 recorded.

Babies named Zed, 2025

1 in 414,000

Zed over time, 1880–2025

Boys
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Zed: meaning, origin, and history

God is righteous, through Zedekiah

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Zed means

Zed belongs to the name family reached through Zed → Zedekiah. Its meaning is “God is righteous”.

Origin, language, and formation

Zed is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Zedekiah.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 454 boys were recorded with the name Zed between 1882 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 18 in 2018; its best national rank was #952 in 1894.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #10,587 in 2020 to #9,696 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #9,552 in 2015 to #9,696 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 Zed?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 414,000
8 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 213,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#9,696
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
287,238 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Zed 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 287,238 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Zed. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Zeds were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Zed was born before 1998 — so the typical Zed is around 27 today.

Median birth year
1998
About 27 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
22.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
45.2%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
348
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 22.0% of all recorded uses (100).

Is Zed 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
−3,506
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+891
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−144
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
1.00×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
44.4%
Peak was 2018 (18)
Years since peak
7
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
38.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#952
1894

Where Zed is used

Across 1910–2025, Zed was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 3,486,540 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 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. Zed has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Zed around the world

Where Zed 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
    2000–2024
    #5,120
    in 2024
  • Canada
    2017–2024
    #2,855
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1986–2013
    #754
    in 2013

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

Zed by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#9,696
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 891
Best rank ever
#952
1894
Peak year
2018
18 that year
First recorded
1882
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
454
Count in 2025
8

Names similar to Zed

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

ZedrickZedekiahZedricZeddieZeddZeddicusZedanZedekZederick

Sibling names for Zed

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 Zed

Top names of 2018, Zed's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 1894Boys' names starting with Z