Zoa
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "life".
Name Census estimates that about 252 living Americans carry the first name Zoa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zoa today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zoa births was 2023 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zoa. 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 Zoa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
252
~ 1 in 1,360,136 Americans
Peak year
2023
29 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,220
Tracked since 1880
Census
Zoa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 376 people with the first name Zoa, which placed it at #25,264 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
#25,264
National first-name rank
People counted
376
376 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zoa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zoa is White at 58.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.9%) and Two or More Races (8.5%). 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 Zoa 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 Zoa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.2% · 219
- Hispanic or Latino22.9% · 86
- Two or more races8.5% · 32
- Black or African American6.9% · 26
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 4
Popularity
Zoa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zoa from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 97 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
Zoa 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 Zoa 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 Zoa
The name Zoa has its origins in ancient Greek, derived from the word "zoe," meaning "life." This name has been in use since antiquity and is associated with the concept of vitality and the celebration of existence.
In ancient Greek mythology, Zoa was one of the Oceanids, the three thousand daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, who personified the life-nurturing streams and springs. This connection to the natural world and the essence of life further reinforced the meaning of the name.
The earliest recorded use of the name Zoa can be traced back to the 5th century BCE. It appears in several ancient Greek texts, including the works of Hesiod and Euripides, where it is mentioned as a name for various characters or figures.
One notable historical figure bearing the name Zoa was Zoa Porphyrogenita, a Byzantine empress who lived in the 11th century (c. 978-1050). She was the daughter of Emperor Constantine VIII and became the wife of the powerful Roman general and later emperor, Romanos III Argyros.
Another influential figure with the name Zoa was Zoa Karbonopoulou, a Greek mathematician and educator who lived in the 19th century (1858-1944). She was a pioneer in promoting women's education and played a significant role in establishing schools and educational institutions for girls in Greece.
In the literary world, Zoa Hartog was a Dutch writer and poet who lived from 1905 to 1988. She was renowned for her poetic works that explored themes of love, nature, and the human condition, and her contributions to Dutch literature are widely celebrated.
Another notable figure was Zoa Ingilizova, a Bulgarian painter and illustrator who lived from 1917 to 2005. She was renowned for her vibrant and expressive works, capturing the essence of Bulgarian culture and folklore through her art.
Lastly, Zoa Rosborough was an American philanthropist and activist who lived from 1905 to 1989. She dedicated her life to promoting peace, social justice, and environmental causes, and her legacy continues to inspire generations of activists and changemakers.
People
Zoa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zoa 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
Zoa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zoa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 252 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zoa 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 1,360,136 US residents.
Is Zoa a common name?
We classify Zoa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 597 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zoa most popular?
The single biggest year for Zoa was 2023, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zoa is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zoa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 376 people with the name Zoa, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,264 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 Zoa 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 Zoa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zoa leans strongly female. 352 people counted with this name were female (93.4%), compared with 25 male bearers (6.6%). 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 Zoa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zoa is White at 58.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.9%) and Two or More Races (8.5%). 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 Zoa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Zoa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.2% (219 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 Zoa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zoa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zoa 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 Zoa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zoa 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 Zoa 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 Zoa?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.