Name Awesome

Zev

#866 in 2025Boys' name

Wolf

Zev has been given to 5,153 babies in the U.S. since 1951. In 2025 it ranked #866 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 277 recorded.

Babies named Zev, 2025

1 in 12,000

Zev over time, 1880–2025

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Zev: meaning, origin, and history

Wolf

Hebrew

What Zev means

Zev means “wolf”, associated with ze'év.

Origin, language, and formation

Zev is used in English. Its origins include Hebrew.

Zev comes through Hebrew זאב.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 5,153 boys were recorded with the name Zev between 1951 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 277 in 2025; its best national rank was #866 in 2025.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #901 in 2020 to #866 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,167 in 2015 to #866 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 Zev?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 12,000
277 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 6,170
0.02% of boys
Rank, 2025
#866
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
8,297 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Zev 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 5004%

Put another way: gather 8,297 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Zev. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Zevs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Zev was born before 2014 — so the typical Zev is around 11 today.

Median birth year
2014
About 11 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
31.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
77.7%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
5,153
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 31.9% of all recorded uses (1,642).

Is Zev 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
+35
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+35
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+301
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.73×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (277)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
11.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#866
2025

Where Zev is used

Across 2016–2025, Zev was most concentrated in New Jersey — about 1 in 1,000 boys, against 1 in 5,540 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in 100,000).

1100 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New Jersey1 in 1,000
  2. 2New York1 in 1,020
  3. 3District of Columbia1 in 5,882
  4. 4Maryland1 in 7,692
  5. 5California1 in 8,333
  6. 6Pennsylvania1 in 11,111
  7. 7Illinois1 in 12,500
  8. 8Massachusetts1 in 12,500

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.

Zev around the world

Where Zev 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
    #2,133
    in 2025
  • France
    2017–2017
    #6,700
    in 2017
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #1,331
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1985–2013
    #754
    in 2013

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

Notable people named Zev

People whose public names include Zev, 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.

Zev in other languages

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

Ze'ev

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

Zev by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#866
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 35
Best rank ever
#866
2025
Peak year
2025
277 that year
First recorded
1951
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
5,153
Count in 2025
277

Names similar to Zev

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

ZeviZevenZevinZevyZevynZevonZevanZevionZevulunZevadiah

Names with a curve like Zev

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

JeremiasMeirAviShimonTzviGianImranKylenYitzchokAvrahamJerichoZahir

Sibling names for Zev

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 Zev

Top names of 2025, Zev's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2025Boys' names starting with ZHebrew Boy NamesThree-Letter Boy Names