Zeplin
A name derived from the word "zeppelin," meaning an airship or dirigible.
Name Census estimates that about 112 living Americans carry the first name Zeplin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zeplin today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zeplin births was 2015 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zeplin. 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
112
~ 1 in 3,060,307 Americans
Peak year
2015
15 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2023 SSA rank
#14,178
Tracked since 2008
Popularity
Zeplin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zeplin 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 75 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zeplin remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zeplin 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 Zeplin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zeplin
The name Zeplin has its roots in the German language, originating in the late 18th century. It is believed to have been derived from the Old High German word "zepfil," which meant "tuft" or "tassel." The name likely referred to someone who worked with tassels or textiles.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zeplin can be found in the birth records of a small village in Bavaria, Germany, in the year 1792. A boy named Zeplin Müller was born to a family of weavers, suggesting a possible connection between the name and the textile industry.
During the 19th century, the name Zeplin gained popularity among German-speaking communities across Europe. Notable individuals with this name include Zeplin Hofer, a Swiss banker who lived from 1818 to 1892, and Zeplin Schmidtke, a German philosopher and writer born in 1842.
As the 20th century dawned, the name Zeplin became less common, but it still appeared in various contexts. Zeplin Krause, a German artist known for his landscape paintings, was born in 1906 and lived until 1988. Another notable figure was Zeplin Albrecht, a German-American engineer who contributed to the development of early aircraft designs in the 1920s and 1930s.
Perhaps the most famous individual with the name Zeplin was Zeplin von Braun, the German-American aerospace engineer and rocket scientist who played a pivotal role in the development of the V-2 rocket during World War II and later became a key figure in the United States space program. Von Braun was born in 1912 and passed away in 1977.
While the name Zeplin has faded into relative obscurity in modern times, its historical significance and connection to the textile industry and engineering fields make it a unique and interesting name with a rich cultural heritage.
People
Zeplin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zeplin 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
Zeplin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zeplin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 112 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zeplin 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 3,060,307 US residents.
Is Zeplin a common name?
We classify Zeplin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 113 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zeplin most popular?
The single biggest year for Zeplin was 2015, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zeplin is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Zeplin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zeplin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zeplin 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 Zeplin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zeplin 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 Zeplin 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Zeplin?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.