Zevi
A Hebrew masculine name meaning "splendor, radiance, brilliance".
Name Census estimates that about 146 living Americans carry the first name Zevi. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zevi today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zevi births was 2020 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zevi. 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 Zevi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
146
~ 1 in 2,347,632 Americans
Peak year
2020
20 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,044
Tracked since 2010
Census
Zevi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 163 people with the first name Zevi, which placed it at #43,340 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
#43,340
National first-name rank
People counted
163
163 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zevi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zevi is White at 83.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.9%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Zevi 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 Zevi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.4% · 136
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 8
- Two or more races4.9% · 8
- Black or African American3.7% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 5
Popularity
Zevi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zevi from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 86 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
Zevi 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 Zevi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zevis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Zevi
The name Zevi is believed to have its origins in the Hebrew language and Jewish culture. It is a variant spelling of the name Zvi, which means "deer" or "gazelle" in Hebrew. The name Zvi is derived from the Biblical Hebrew word "tzviyah," which refers to a type of deer or gazelle that was found in ancient Israel.
The name Zevi first appeared in ancient Jewish texts and scriptures, where it was used to refer to the animal itself or as a metaphor for beauty, grace, and swiftness. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zevi can be found in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism.
In the 17th century, a prominent figure named Sabbatai Zevi (1626-1676) claimed to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. Although his messianic movement eventually collapsed, he left a lasting impact on Jewish history and culture, and his name became more widely known.
Another notable figure with the name Zevi was Hirsch Kalischer (1795-1874), a rabbi and one of the early proponents of the Zionist movement, which advocated for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
In the 20th century, Zevi Scharfstein (1891-1963) was a prominent Israeli author and playwright who wrote in both Hebrew and Yiddish. He is best known for his plays that explored themes of Jewish identity and life in pre-state Israel.
Zevi Reciter (1920-1995) was an Israeli politician and diplomat who served as the Speaker of the Knesset (Israeli parliament) and the President of the World Jewish Congress.
Zevi Zabari (1931-2014) was an Israeli actor and comedian who appeared in numerous films and television shows, and was known for his comedic roles that often satirized Israeli society and politics.
While the name Zevi has its roots in the Hebrew language and Jewish culture, it has also been adopted by various communities around the world. However, it remains most closely associated with its Jewish heritage and the historical figures who have borne this name throughout the centuries.
People
Zevi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zevi 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
Zevi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zevi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 146 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zevi 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 2,347,632 US residents.
Is Zevi a common name?
We classify Zevi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 147 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zevi most popular?
The single biggest year for Zevi was 2020, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zevi is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zevi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 163 people with the name Zevi, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,340 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 Zevi 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 Zevi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zevi leans strongly male. 148 people counted with this name were male (88.1%), compared with 20 female bearers (11.9%). 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 Zevi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zevi is White at 83.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.9%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Zevi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Zevi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.4% (136 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 Zevi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zevi a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zevi 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 Zevi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zevi 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 Zevi 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 Zevi?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.