Zel
UnisexBoys' nameGirls' nameMeaning not yet documented
Zel has been given to 29 babies in the U.S. since 1971. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 2019, with 11 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 55% boys, 45% girls all-time.
Babies named Zel, 2019
1 in 316,000
Zel over time, 1880–2025
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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
Girls or boys — Zel over time
In 2019, Zel went to 39% girls and 61% boys.
A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.
How common is Zel?
Zel had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2019, the last year it was published.
- Among all babies, 2019
- 1 in 316,000
- 11 of 3,472,229 births
- Among boys only
- 1 in 163,000
- <0.01% of boys
- Rank, 2019
- Unranked
- Fewer than 5 uses
- Coin-flip room size
- 218,798 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Zel sits on the popularity scale
Chance at least one other child shares the name
If the other children were drawn at random from the 2019 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.
Put another way: gather 218,798 children born in 2019 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Zel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Zels were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Zel was born before 2019 — so the typical Zel is around 6 today.
- Biggest decade
- 2010s
- 68.8% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 68.8%
- A modern name
- Recorded since 1950
- 16
- People you could plausibly meet
2010s — 68.8% of all recorded uses (11).
Is Zel 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
- —
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- New entry
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not ranked then
- Births vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not published both years
- Share of its own peak
- 0%
- Peak was 2019 (11)
- Years since peak
- 6
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Not enough data
- Too few years
Zel by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a boy's name
Names similar to Zel
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Zel
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.