Zannie
A feminine name of unknown origin, possibly a diminutive form of Suzanne.
Name Census estimates that about 95 living Americans carry the first name Zannie. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 50.7% of registrations being male. The average person named Zannie today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zannie births was 1920 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zannie. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Zannie is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Zannies were born before 1960.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Zannie. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
95
~ 1 in 3,607,940 Americans
Peak year
1920
14 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1961 SSA rank
#4,655
Tracked since 1904
Census
Zannie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 203 people with the first name Zannie, which placed it at #38,074 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
#38,074
National first-name rank
People counted
203
203 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
60.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zannie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zannie is Black at 60.1%. The next largest groups are White (32.0%) and Hispanic (2.5%). 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 Zannie 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 Zannie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American60.1% · 122
- White32.0% · 65
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 4
- Two or more races2.0% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Zannie
Zannie is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 284 total registrations, 144 (50.7%) were male and 140 (49.3%) were female.
Zannie as a male name
- Ranked #4,655 in 1961
- 5 male births in 1961
- Peak: 1940 (12 births)
Zannie as a female name
- Ranked #9,661 in 1972
- 5 female births in 1972
- Peak: 1913 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Zannie on both sides of the split. Of the 199 people counted with this name, 115 were male (57.8%) and 84 were female (42.2%).
Popularity
Zannie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zannie from the 1900s through to the 1970s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 61 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zannie 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 Zannie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zannies live
Origin
Meaning and history of Zannie
The name Zannie has its origins in the Germanic languages, tracing back to the Old High German name Zanno or Zanno, which was derived from the word "zan" meaning "tooth" or "tusk." This suggests that the name may have been given to someone with prominent teeth or a distinctive dental feature.
In its early history, the name was primarily found in regions where Germanic tribes settled, such as parts of modern-day Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. It was a relatively uncommon name, but it did appear in some historical records and documents from the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zannie can be found in the Codex Traditionum Ecclesiae Ravennatensis, a medieval cartulary from the 11th century that documents transactions and donations made to the Church of Ravenna in Italy. In this text, a person named Zannie is mentioned as a witness to a land transfer in the year 1032.
Throughout the centuries, there have been a few notable individuals who bore the name Zannie. One such figure was Zannie Guglielmi (1655-1711), an Italian painter and engraver who was active in Rome during the Baroque period. His works can be found in various churches and collections across Italy.
Another individual of note was Zannie Munslow (1820-1895), a British engineer and inventor who is credited with developing an early form of the pneumatic tire. Born in Shropshire, England, Munslow patented his "Aerial Wheels" design in 1846, which used inflatable tubes to create a smoother ride on rough terrain.
In the realm of literature, Zannie Randolph (1883-1962) was an American writer and editor who worked for several publications, including The New York Times. She is best known for her biographical works on notable figures such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
Another notable bearer of the name was Zannie Voss (1906-1992), a Danish actress and singer who appeared in numerous films and stage productions throughout her career. She was particularly renowned for her performances in revues and musicals in Copenhagen during the mid-20th century.
Finally, Zannie Augusto Dragovic (1920-2004) was a Croatian-American artist and sculptor who gained recognition for his abstract and modernist works. Born in Split, Croatia, he emigrated to the United States and became an influential figure in the Chicago art scene, with his pieces exhibited in various galleries and museums.
While the name Zannie has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, these individuals and the name's Germanic roots shed light on its unique origins and the diverse backgrounds of those who have borne this distinctive moniker over the centuries.
People
Zannie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zannie 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
Zannie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zannie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 95 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zannie 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 3,607,940 US residents.
Is Zannie a common name?
We classify Zannie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 284 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zannie most popular?
The single biggest year for Zannie was 1920, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zannie is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zannie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 203 people with the name Zannie, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,074 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 Zannie 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 Zannie?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Zannie on both sides of the split. Of the 199 people counted with this name, 115 were male (57.8%) and 84 were female (42.2%). 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 Zannie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zannie is Black at 60.1%. The next largest groups are White (32.0%) and Hispanic (2.5%). 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 Zannie most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zannie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.1% (122 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 Zannie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zannie a male name?
Yes, 50.7% of people registered as Zannie 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 Zannie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zannie 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 Zannie 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 common is the name Zannie?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Zannie at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.