Zelma vs Zelpha
American parents have registered 16,936 Zelmas since 1880, against 956 Zelphas. Zelma is still ahead, with 16 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Zelma Zelpha
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Zelma has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.
The closest they came was 1887, when Zelma had 27 and Zelpha had 7.
Side by side
| Zelma | Zelpha | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 16,936 | 956 |
| Most in one year | 494 | 39 |
| Babies in 2025 | 16 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 3,200 | 90 |
| Median age today | 75 | 82 |
| Peak year | 1919 | 1916 |
| Best rank | 287th girls | 1,127th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 6,838th | unranked |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1886 |
| Girls / boys | 16,824 / 112 | 956 / 0 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Zelphas alive today are over 82; half the Zelmas are over 75. That is 7 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Zelma and Zelpha.