Humanverse

Zeth vs Zetta

American parents have registered 2,058 Zettas since 1880, against 1,202 Zeths. But in 2025 it was Zeth that was commoner, 5 babies to 5.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Zeth against Zetta, 1880 to 2025 0 15 30 45 60 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Zeth 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 139 years in which either name was published, Zetta for 91 years and Zeth for 48 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Zeth Zetta
Total US births 1,2022,058
Most in one year 5953
Babies in 2025 55
Estimated living today 1,200580
Median age today 2366
Peak year 19991925
Best rank 1,733rd boys1,037th girls
Rank in 2025 12,008th14,942nd
First recorded 19771880
Girls / boys 0 / 1,2022,058 / 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 Zettas alive today are over 66; half the Zeths are over 23. That is 43 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Zeth and Zetta.