Zell
UnisexGirls' nameBoys' nameMeaning not yet documented
Zell has been given to 583 babies in the U.S. since 1898. 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 1925, with 21 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 63% girls, 37% boys all-time.
Babies named Zell, 1958
1 in 591,000
Zell 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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.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 — Zell over time
In 2023, Zell went to 0% girls and 100% 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 Zell?
Zell had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1958, the last year it was published.
- Among all babies, 1958
- 1 in 591,000
- 7 of 4,133,550 births
- Among girls only
- 1 in 287,000
- <0.01% of girls
- Rank, 1958
- Unranked
- Fewer than 5 uses
- Coin-flip room size
- 409,310 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Zell sits on the popularity scale
Chance at least one other child shares the name
If the other children were drawn at random from the 1958 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.
Put another way: gather 409,310 children born in 1958 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Zell. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Zells were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Zell was born before 1920 — so the typical Zell is around 105 today.
- Biggest decade
- 1910s
- 32.2% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 11.1%
- Spread across generations
- Recorded since 1950
- 17
- People you could plausibly meet
1910s — 32.2% of all recorded uses (119).
Is Zell 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 1925 (21)
- Years since peak
- 100
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 43.2% average annual change
Spellings of Zell
Zell is not the most common spelling — Kelly is, with 30.8% against Zell's 0.02%.
Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.
Where Zell is used
Across 1910–2025, Zell was most concentrated in Georgia — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 687,978 across all states with data. It was least common in West Virginia (1 in —).
Most concentrated
- 1Georgia1 in —
- 2Texas1 in —
- 3Virginia1 in —
- 4West Virginia1 in —
Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls 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. Zell has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.
Zell around the world
Where Zell 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.
- South Australia1954–1982#670in 1982
Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.
Zell by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a girl's name
Names similar to Zell
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Zell
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.