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Zena

#2,457 in 2025Girls' name

Meaning uncertain in the cited reference

Zena has been given to 5,986 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #2,457 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1964, with 222 recorded.

Babies named Zena, 2025

1 in 45,400

Zena over time, 1880–2025

Girls
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Zena: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning uncertain in the cited reference

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Zena means

Zena is a given name.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 5,986 girls were recorded with the name Zena between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 222 in 1964; its best national rank was #560 in 1883.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,195 in 2020 to #2,457 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #3,000 in 2015 to #2,457 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.

How common is Zena?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 45,400
73 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 22,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#2,457
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
31,479 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Zena sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

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 5001%

Put another way: gather 31,479 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Zena. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Zenas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Zena was born before 1971 — so the typical Zena is around 54 today.

Median birth year
1971
About 54 years old
Biggest decade
1960s
17.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
24.2%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
4,406
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1960s — 17.4% of all recorded uses (1,041).

Is Zena 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
−176
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−262
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+543
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.26×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
32.9%
Peak was 1964 (222)
Years since peak
61
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
15.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#560
1883

Spellings of Zena

Zena is not the most common spelling — Anna is, with 19.9% against Zena's 0.13%.

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 Zena is used

Across 2016–2025, Zena was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in 14,286 girls, against 1 in 24,350 across all states with data. It was least common in Ohio (1 in 100,000).

17 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 in 14,286
  2. 2Florida1 in 16,667
  3. 3California1 in 20,000
  4. 4North Carolina1 in 20,000
  5. 5Nevada1 in 20,000
  6. 6Texas1 in 25,000
  7. 7Georgia1 in 33,333
  8. 8New Jersey1 in 33,333

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.

Zena around the world

Where Zena 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
    1996–2025
    #2,605
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1976–1986
    #438
    in 1986
  • Ireland
    1982–2017
    #873
    in 2017
  • France
    1903–2025
    #4,963
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #3,027
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1946–2013
    #818
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Zena

People whose public names include Zena, 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.

Zena in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Zena. Linked forms have their own page here.

XenaZina

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Zena by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#2,457
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 262
Best rank ever
#560
1883
Peak year
1964
222 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
5,986
Count in 2025
73

Names similar to Zena

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

TenaXenaSenaZeniaLeenaJenaKenaEnaZenobiaSienaMenaZendayaNenaDeenaMakenaSalenaDenaReenaZenaidaCelenaAlenaIrenaMilenaZen

Names with a curve like Zena

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

SabinaAdelaidaGrettaMartinaMoiraAidaEdieLeonorColletteAnnamarieBrigidSabra

Sibling names for Zena

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 Zena

Top names of 1964, Zena's peak yearThe 1960s in fullOther names that peaked in 1883Girls' names starting with Z