Zilda
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "brave woman".
Name Census estimates that about 1 living Americans carry the first name Zilda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zilda today is around 79 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zilda births was 1916 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zilda. 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 Zilda is about 79 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Zildas were born before 1957.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Zilda. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
1
~ 1 in 342,754,338 Americans
Peak year
1916
8 babies that year
Average age
79
years old
1925 SSA rank
#5,768
Tracked since 1897
Census
Zilda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 203 people with the first name Zilda, 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
White
68.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zilda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zilda is White at 68.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.8%) and Black (9.9%). 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 Zilda 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 Zilda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.5% · 139
- Hispanic or Latino13.8% · 28
- Black or African American9.9% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 7
- Two or more races2.5% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 4
Popularity
Zilda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zilda from the 1890s through to the 1920s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 35 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1910s peak, Zilda remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zilda 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 Zilda 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 Zilda
The name Zilda is believed to have its origins in the Slavic languages, particularly Polish. It is thought to be a feminine form of the name Zdzisław, which is derived from the Slavic elements "zdzi" meaning "to create" and "sław" meaning "glory" or "fame."
In its earliest recorded use, Zilda was a Polish name given to girls born in the 16th and 17th centuries. It gained popularity among the Polish nobility and gentry during this period. Some historians suggest that the name may have been influenced by the Old Polish word "zieleń," meaning "green" or "verdant," due to its similar sound.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Zilda was Zilda Radziwiłłówna (1558-1600), a Polish noblewoman and the wife of Prince Krzysztof Radziwiłł. Another notable figure was Zilda Ossoliński (1595-1673), a countess from a prominent Polish noble family known for her patronage of the arts and culture.
In the 18th century, Zilda Lubomirska (1718-1782) was a renowned Polish poet and playwright who wrote works that were celebrated for their wit and satirical commentary on the society of her time.
Moving into the 19th century, Zilda Kwiatkowska (1835-1908) was a Polish painter and one of the first female artists to gain recognition in her country. Her works often depicted scenes from everyday life and rural landscapes.
More recently, Zilda Arns (1934-2010) was a Brazilian nurse, humanitarian, and human rights activist who dedicated her life to helping the poor and advocating for social justice. She founded the Pastoral da Criança, an organization that has helped millions of children and families in Brazil and other parts of Latin America.
Throughout its history, the name Zilda has maintained a strong connection to its Slavic roots, particularly in Poland. While it has been used in other cultures, its origins and early recorded use can be traced back to the Polish language and the noble families of Poland's past.
People
Zilda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zilda 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
Zilda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zilda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zilda 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 342,754,338 US residents.
Is Zilda a common name?
We classify Zilda as "Very Rare". It ranks above 3.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 66 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zilda most popular?
The single biggest year for Zilda was 1916, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zilda is about 79 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zilda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 203 people with the name Zilda, 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 Zilda 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 Zilda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zilda appears almost entirely female. Of the 203 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Zilda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zilda is White at 68.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.8%) and Black (9.9%). 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 Zilda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Zilda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.5% (139 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 Zilda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zilda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zilda 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 Zilda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zilda 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 Zilda 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 have the name Zilda?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.