Humanverse

Zula vs Zuleika

American parents have registered 4,450 Zulas since 1880, against 1,230 Zuleikas. But in 2025 it was Zuleika that was commoner, 17 babies to 5.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Zula against Zuleika, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Zula Zuleika

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 142 years in which either name was published, Zula for 88 years and Zuleika for 54 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Zula Zuleika
Total US births 4,4501,230
Most in one year 12754
Babies in 2025 517
Estimated living today 5501,200
Median age today 7627
Peak year 19222007
Best rank 651st girls3,168th girls
Rank in 2025 14,942nd6,546th
First recorded 18801967
Girls / boys 4,450 / 01,230 / 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 Zulas alive today are over 76; half the Zuleikas are over 27. That is 49 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: Zula and Zuleika.