Name Awesome

Zhen

#11,989 in 2025UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Precious, rare

Zhen has been given to 116 babies in the U.S. since 1995. In 2025 it ranked #11,989 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2023, with 21 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 81% boys, 19% girls all-time.

Babies named Zhen, 2025

1 in 553,000

Zhen over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
010203018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.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

In 2025, Zhen went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

19952025

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.

Zhen: meaning, origin, and history

Precious, rare

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Zhen means

Zhen means “precious, rare”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Zhen is used in Chinese.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ʈ͡ʂən/ for Zhen.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 94 boys were recorded with the name Zhen between 1995 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 21 in 2023; its best national rank was #4,880 in 2023.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #8,055 in 2020 to #11,989 in 2025.

In the United States, 22 girls were recorded with the name Zhen between 2016 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 7 in 2024; its best national rank was #13,457 in 2024.

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 Zhen?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 553,000
6 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 285,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#11,989
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
382,984 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Zhen 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 382,984 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Zhen. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Zhens were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Zhen was born before 2020 — so the typical Zhen is around 5 today.

Median birth year
2020
About 5 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
58.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
94.7%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
94
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 58.5% of all recorded uses (55).

Is Zhen 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
+342
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−3,934
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
28.6%
Peak was 2023 (21)
Years since peak
2
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
56.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#4,880
2023

Spellings of Zhen

Zhen is not the most common spelling — Owen is, with 31.3% against Zhen's 0.01%.

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 Zhen is used

Across 1910–2025, Zhen was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 2,664,768 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 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. Zhen has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Zhen around the world

Where Zhen 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
    2002–2014
    #4,632
    in 2014
  • Canada
    2017–2017
    #2,944
    in 2017

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Zhen by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#11,989
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 3,934
Best rank ever
#4,880
2023
Peak year
2023
21 that year
First recorded
1995
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
94
Count in 2025
6

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#13,457
2024
Peak year
2024
7 that year
First recorded
2016
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
22
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Zhen

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

BohenOshenRhenYuchenShenChenAshenRohenYichenLaithenAthenGoshenZhengKashenLathenAithenJathenEithenZichenZephenCashenReichenNaithenJaythen

Sibling names for Zhen

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 Zhen

Top names of 2023, Zhen's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2023Boys' names starting with Z