Zilpah
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "distillation" or "drop".
Name Census estimates that about 0 living Americans carry the first name Zilpah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zilpah today is around 0 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zilpah births was 1881 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zilpah. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Zilpah. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
0
~ - Americans
Peak year
1881
9 babies that year
Average age
-
1881 SSA rank
#621
Tracked since 1881
Popularity
Zilpah: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Zilpah 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 Zilpah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 0 | 9 | 9 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Zilpah
The given name Zilpah originates from the Hebrew language and is found in the Old Testament of the Bible. It is derived from the Hebrew word "zilpah" which means "a drop" or "trickle."
Zilpah was the name of the handmaid or maidservant of Leah, one of the wives of the Biblical patriarch Jacob. She bore two sons for Jacob, Gad and Asher, who went on to become founders of two of the twelve tribes of Israel. This account is recorded in the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament.
The earliest recorded person with the name Zilpah appears to be the Biblical figure mentioned above. However, there are a few notable people throughout history who have borne this name.
Zilpah P. Grant Banister (1794-1873) was an American educator and abolitionist from New York. She was an advocate for women's rights and was involved in the anti-slavery movement.
Zilpah Wadsworth (1794-1865) was an American nurse and humanitarian from Connecticut. She dedicated her life to caring for the sick and poor, and was known for her compassionate service during cholera epidemics.
Zilpah Munroe (1857-1940) was a Canadian artist and painter from Nova Scotia. She is known for her landscape paintings depicting scenes from the Annapolis Valley and Evangeline region.
Zilpah Hall (1854-1938) was an American educator and social reformer from Massachusetts. She worked to establish public kindergartens and advocated for early childhood education.
Zilpah Polly Vaughan (1810-1891) was an American pioneer and settler from Tennessee. She traveled west with her family and helped establish settlements in Missouri and Texas.
People
Zilpah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zilpah 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
Zilpah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zilpah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 0 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zilpah 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 - US residents.
Is Zilpah a common name?
We classify Zilpah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 2.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zilpah most popular?
The single biggest year for Zilpah was 1881, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zilpah is about 0 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 Zilpah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zilpah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zilpah 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 Zilpah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zilpah 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 Zilpah 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 many people are called Zilpah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.