Zephyr
A gentle breeze or breath of wind from the west.
Name Census estimates that about 2,864 living Americans carry the first name Zephyr. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 78.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Zephyr today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zephyr births was 2021 (232 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zephyr. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Zephyr with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Zephyr was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
- • Zephyr is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.9K
~ 1 in 119,677 Americans
Peak year
2021
232 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,133
Tracked since 1905
Census
Zephyr in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,837 people with the first name Zephyr, which placed it at #8,015 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
#8,015
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,837 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zephyr
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zephyr is White at 66.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.1%) and Two or More Races (10.5%). 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 Zephyr 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 Zephyr at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.7% · 1,226
- Hispanic or Latino15.1% · 278
- Two or more races10.5% · 193
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 61
- Black or African American3.1% · 57
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 22
Gender
Gender distribution for Zephyr
Zephyr is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 3,021 total registrations, 2,355 (78.0%) were male and 666 (22.0%) were female.
Zephyr as a male name
- Ranked #1,133 in 2024
- 187 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (194 births)
Zephyr as a female name
- Ranked #4,454 in 2024
- 32 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (42 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Zephyr on both sides of the split. Of the 1,841 people counted with this name, 1,366 were male (74.2%) and 475 were female (25.8%).
Popularity
Zephyr: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zephyr from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,319 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zephyr 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 Zephyr during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zephyrs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 24 states and territories. California, Texas, Washington recorded the most babies named Zephyr, while Utah, New Jersey, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 57 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zephyr
The name Zephyr has its roots in ancient Greek mythology and language. It is derived from the Greek word "zephyros," which means "the west wind." The Zephyrs were the gentle, mild western winds personified as minor nature deities in Greek mythology. The name was first used as a reference to the soft breeze and carried connotations of warmth, gentleness, and rejuvenation.
In ancient Greek texts, the Zephyrs were often depicted as the harbingers of spring, carrying the warm air that ushered in the season of rebirth and growth. They were associated with the goddess of vegetation, Flora, and were believed to nurture and encourage the blooming of plants and flowers.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Zephyr can be found in Homer's epic poem, the Iliad, written around the 8th century BC. In the text, Zephyr is described as a personified wind that accompanies the goddess Iris on her journey.
The name gained popularity in Europe during the Renaissance period, particularly in literature and poetry. William Shakespeare used the name in his play "The Tempest," where Zephyr is referred to as a gentle, calming breeze. John Milton also invoked the image of Zephyr in his epic poem "Paradise Lost," describing it as a "mild western wind."
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Zephyr. One of the earliest was Zephyr, a 6th-century Byzantine historian and author of the work "Ecclesiastical History." Another was Zephyr Teachout, an American author and law professor born in 1971, known for her writings on political corruption and policy reform.
In the realm of music, Zephyr was the stage name of British singer-songwriter Zephyr Zephyrus (born in 1984), who gained popularity in the early 2000s with her blend of folk and electronica genres.
Additionally, Zephyr was the name given to a character in the popular fantasy novel series "The Kingkiller Chronicle" by Patrick Rothfuss, published in the early 21st century.
Lastly, Zephyr is also the name of a minor planet or asteroid, discovered in 1868 and officially designated as "49 Zephyr" in the astronomical record.
People
Zephyr + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zephyr 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
Zephyr: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zephyr?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,864 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zephyr 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 119,677 US residents.
Is Zephyr a common name?
We classify Zephyr as "Rare". It ranks above 95% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,021 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zephyr most popular?
The single biggest year for Zephyr was 2021, when 232 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zephyr 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 Zephyr in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,837 people with the name Zephyr, or 0.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,015 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 Zephyr 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 Zephyr?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Zephyr on both sides of the split. Of the 1,841 people counted with this name, 1,366 were male (74.2%) and 475 were female (25.8%). 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 Zephyr?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zephyr is White at 66.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.1%) and Two or More Races (10.5%). 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 Zephyr most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Zephyr in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.7% (1,226 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 Zephyr in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zephyr a male name?
Yes, 78.0% of people registered as Zephyr 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 Zephyr still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zephyr 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 Zephyr 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 people are named Zephyr?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.