Zillah vs Zilpha

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Zillah Zilpha

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 83 years in which either name was published, Zilpha for 47 years and Zillah for 36 years. The lead changed hands 17 times.

• 1884–1943 Zilpha ahead, apart from 5 short spells
• 1951–2025 Zillah ahead

11 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 Zilphas alive today are over 87; half the Zillahs are over 10. That is 77 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

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