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Zenia vs Zenovia

American parents have registered 1,770 Zenias since 1880, against 512 Zenovias. But in 2025 it was Zenovia that was commoner, 22 babies to 17.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Zenia against Zenovia, 1880 to 2025 0 13 25 38 50 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Zenia Zenovia

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

Of the 105 years in which either name was published, Zenia for 98 years and Zenovia for 7 years. The lead changed hands 7 times.

Side by side

  Zenia Zenovia
Total US births 1,770512
Most in one year 4339
Babies in 2025 1722
Estimated living today 1,500490
Median age today 3211
Peak year 19882022
Best rank 2,489th girls3,827th girls
Rank in 2025 6,546th5,554th
First recorded 18911926
Girls / boys 1,770 / 0512 / 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 Zenias alive today are over 32; half the Zenovias are over 11. That is 21 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: Zenia and Zenovia.