Zeta vs Zetta

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Zeta Zetta

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 122 years in which either name was published, Zetta for 88 years and Zeta for 34 years. The lead changed hands 17 times.

• 1880–1963 Zetta ahead, apart from 2 short spells
• 1999–2025 Zeta ahead, apart from one short spell

13 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

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 Zettas alive today are over 66; half the Zetas are over 20. That is 46 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

• Zeta vs Zettie
• Zeta vs Zeth
• Zetta vs Zettie
• Zetta vs Zeth