Zaelyn
A feminine name of modern American origin meaning "grace from God".
Name Census estimates that about 686 living Americans carry the first name Zaelyn. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 53.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Zaelyn today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zaelyn births was 2021 (60 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zaelyn. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
686
~ 1 in 499,642 Americans
Peak year
2021
60 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,677
Tracked since 2004
Census
Zaelyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 383 people with the first name Zaelyn, which placed it at #24,935 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#24,935
National first-name rank
People counted
383
383 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
41.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zaelyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zaelyn is Black at 41.5%. The next largest groups are White (31.3%) and Hispanic (12.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Zaelyn described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Zaelyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American41.5% · 159
- White31.3% · 120
- Hispanic or Latino12.8% · 49
- Two or more races10.2% · 39
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Zaelyn
Zaelyn is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 691 total registrations, 370 (53.5%) were male and 321 (46.5%) were female.
Zaelyn as a male name
- Ranked #3,677 in 2024
- 31 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (34 births)
Zaelyn as a female name
- Ranked #9,505 in 2024
- 11 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (26 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Zaelyn on both sides of the split. Of the 383 people counted with this name, 176 were male (46.0%) and 207 were female (54.0%).
Popularity
Zaelyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zaelyn from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 349 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zaelyn remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zaelyn by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Zaelyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zaelyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Zaelyn, while Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zaelyn
The name Zaelyn is a relatively modern construction, created in the late 20th century. It is likely a variant spelling of the name Zelene, which has its origins in the Slavic languages. Zelene is derived from the Slavic root "zeleny," meaning "green" or "verdant." This root can be found in other Slavic names like Zelenika and Zelenka.
While Zaelyn itself does not have a long historical lineage, the name Zelene has been recorded in various parts of Eastern Europe for centuries. Some of the earliest written records of this name can be found in old Czech and Slovak parish registers dating back to the 16th century.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Zelene was a Czech noblewoman named Zelene Stračková, who lived in the late 16th century. She was a prominent figure in the court of Emperor Rudolf II and was known for her patronage of the arts.
In the 18th century, there was a Russian poet and playwright named Zelene Gavrilovna Kaptereva (1728-1803). She is considered one of the pioneers of Russian drama and is remembered for her contributions to the development of the Russian literary language.
Another notable figure with this name was Zelene Ivanovna Zhukova (1876-1947), a Russian revolutionary and Bolshevik activist. She played a significant role in the Russian Revolution of 1917 and later held important positions in the Soviet government.
In more recent times, one of the most famous bearers of the name Zelene was the Czech tennis player Zelene Suková (born 1965). She was a former world No. 1 in doubles and won numerous Grand Slam titles throughout her career.
While Zaelyn is a modern invention, it draws inspiration from the long-standing Slavic tradition of naming, particularly the use of nature-inspired names. The name's connection to the color green and its verdant associations give it a sense of freshness and vitality, which may contribute to its appeal in the modern era.
People
Zaelyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zaelyn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Z
Other first names starting with Z with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Zaelyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zaelyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 686 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zaelyn going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 499,642 US residents.
Is Zaelyn a common name?
We classify Zaelyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 691 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zaelyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Zaelyn was 2021, when 60 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zaelyn is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zaelyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 383 people with the name Zaelyn, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,935 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Zaelyn in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Zaelyn?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Zaelyn on both sides of the split. Of the 383 people counted with this name, 176 were male (46.0%) and 207 were female (54.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Zaelyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zaelyn is Black at 41.5%. The next largest groups are White (31.3%) and Hispanic (12.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Zaelyn most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zaelyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.5% (159 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Zaelyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zaelyn a male name?
Yes, 53.5% of people registered as Zaelyn in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Zaelyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zaelyn in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Zaelyn can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Zaelyn?
See how many Americans are named Zaelyn on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.