Zinnia
A feminine name derived from the zinnia flower, representing endurance and perseverance.
Name Census estimates that about 2,457 living Americans carry the first name Zinnia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zinnia today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zinnia births was 2023 (177 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zinnia. 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 Zinnia with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Zinnia is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.5K
~ 1 in 139,501 Americans
Peak year
2023
177 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,349
Tracked since 1917
Census
Zinnia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,706 people with the first name Zinnia, which placed it at #8,494 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
#8,494
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,706 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
36.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zinnia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zinnia is White at 36.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (32.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.3%). 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 Zinnia 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 Zinnia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White36.5% · 623
- Hispanic or Latino32.6% · 556
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.3% · 210
- Black or African American10.7% · 183
- Two or more races7.4% · 126
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 8
Popularity
Zinnia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zinnia from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 989 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
Zinnia 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 Zinnia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zinnias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 23 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Zinnia, while Maryland, Indiana, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 49 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zinnia
The name Zinnia originates from the botanical term for the zinnia flower, which was named in honor of the 18th century German botanist Johann Gottfried Zinn. The zinnia flower is native to Mexico and parts of the southwestern United States.
While the name Zinnia is relatively modern, first appearing in the late 19th century, it has its roots in the much older German surname Zinn. This surname is derived from the German word "zinn," meaning "tin," likely referring to an ancestor who worked as a tinsmith or tin miner.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Zinnia is Zinnia Pina, a Mexican artist born in 1885. She was known for her vibrant paintings depicting scenes of everyday life in Mexico.
Another notable bearer of the name was Zinnia Bunsen, a British botanist and educator born in 1901. She made significant contributions to the study of plant biology and was a pioneer in the field of environmental education.
In the literary world, Zinnia Wormwood was the name of a character in the popular children's book series "A Series of Unfortunate Events" by Lemony Snicket, published in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Zinnia Wicks, born in 1937, was an American actress and singer who appeared in several Broadway musicals and television shows in the 1960s and 1970s.
Finally, Zinnia Isadora Clemens, born in 1955, was a renowned dancer and choreographer who helped popularize modern dance in the late 20th century, particularly in her native Australia.
While the name Zinnia is not as common as some other floral names, its botanical origins and unique sound have contributed to its enduring appeal as a given name over the past century.
People
Zinnia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zinnia 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
Zinnia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zinnia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,457 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zinnia 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 139,501 US residents.
Is Zinnia a common name?
We classify Zinnia as "Rare". It ranks above 94.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,508 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zinnia most popular?
The single biggest year for Zinnia was 2023, when 177 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zinnia is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zinnia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,706 people with the name Zinnia, or 0.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,494 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 Zinnia 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 Zinnia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zinnia appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,703 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Zinnia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zinnia is White at 36.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (32.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.3%). 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 Zinnia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Zinnia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 36.5% (623 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 Zinnia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zinnia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zinnia 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 Zinnia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zinnia 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 Zinnia 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 Zinnia?
Find out how many people share the name Zinnia on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.