Zettie
A feminine diminutive form of the name Etta.
Name Census estimates that about 231 living Americans carry the first name Zettie. It is a predominantly female name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Zettie today is around 78 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zettie births was 1924 (49 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zettie. 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 Zettie is about 78 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Zetties were born before 1958.
People living today
231
~ 1 in 1,483,785 Americans
Peak year
1924
49 babies that year
Average age
78
years old
1958 SSA rank
#4,502
Tracked since 1884
Census
Zettie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 334 people with the first name Zettie, which placed it at #27,416 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
#27,416
National first-name rank
People counted
334
334 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
53.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zettie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zettie is Black at 53.9%. The next largest groups are White (41.3%) and Two or More Races (1.8%). 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 Zettie 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 Zettie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American53.9% · 180
- White41.3% · 138
- Two or more races1.8% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino1.2% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Zettie
Out of the 1,468 babies given the name Zettie since 1880, 99.3% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Zettie as a male name
- Ranked #4,502 in 1958
- 5 male births in 1958
- Peak: 1916 (5 births)
Zettie as a female name
- Ranked #6,563 in 1966
- 6 female births in 1966
- Peak: 1924 (49 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zettie leans strongly female. 300 people counted with this name were female (90.6%), compared with 31 male bearers (9.4%).
Popularity
Zettie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zettie from the 1880s through to the 1960s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 296 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zettie 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 Zettie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zetties live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Mississippi, North Carolina, Alabama recorded the most babies named Zettie, while West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 27 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zettie
The name Zettie is believed to have originated from the Old English word "zetta," which meant "day" or "time." It first emerged in the 7th century in the Anglo-Saxon region of present-day England. The name is thought to have been derived from the Germanic root "zet," which also meant "time" or "day."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zettie can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical record that documented events in Anglo-Saxon England from the 9th century onwards. The name was mentioned in an entry from the year 675, referring to a woman named Zettie who was a member of the local nobility.
In the 9th century, a notable figure named Zettie was mentioned in the writings of the Venerable Bede, an English monk and scholar. Bede's account referred to Zettie as a wise and influential woman who played a role in the spread of Christianity in the region.
During the Middle Ages, the name Zettie appeared sporadically in various historical records and manuscripts. One notable individual was Zettie of Wessex, who lived in the 10th century and was known for her skill in embroidery and tapestry-making. Her works were highly prized by the nobility of the time.
In the 16th century, a woman named Zettie Woodhouse gained recognition for her contributions to the field of herbalism and natural medicine. She authored a book titled "The Herbal of Zettie Woodhouse," which became a widely referenced work on the medicinal properties of plants.
Another significant figure with the name Zettie was Zettie Cartwright, a 17th-century English poet and playwright. Her works explored themes of love, nature, and the human condition, and she was celebrated by her contemporaries for her poetic talent.
While the name Zettie has not been as widely used in more recent times, it remains a unique and historic name with deep roots in the Anglo-Saxon culture and language.
People
Zettie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zettie 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
Zettie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zettie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 231 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zettie 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 1,483,785 US residents.
Is Zettie a common name?
We classify Zettie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,468 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zettie most popular?
The single biggest year for Zettie was 1924, when 49 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zettie is about 78 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zettie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 334 people with the name Zettie, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,416 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 Zettie 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 Zettie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zettie leans strongly female. 300 people counted with this name were female (90.6%), compared with 31 male bearers (9.4%). 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 Zettie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zettie is Black at 53.9%. The next largest groups are White (41.3%) and Two or More Races (1.8%). 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 Zettie most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zettie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.9% (180 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 Zettie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zettie a female name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Zettie in the SSA data are female. 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 Zettie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zettie 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 Zettie 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 Zettie?
Find out how many Americans are named Zettie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.