Zelma
Zelma is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 17 births. Its best rank was 216th, in 1902.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 170.00% of girls
- Peak year
- 1919488 births
- Best rank
- #216in 1902
- Since 1880
- 16,807people given the name
The story in the numbers
16,807 girls have been named Zelma in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1919, with 488 births.
The name has all but left use: 17 births in 2024, against 488 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1923, and the 1920s alone account for 24%. It has spent 76 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
Rank among girls, year by year
By decade
| Decade | girls named Zelma | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 259 | |
| 1890s | 795 | |
| 1900s | 1,821 | |
| 1910s | 3,899 | |
| 1920s | 4,111 | |
| 1930s | 2,446 | |
| 1940s | 1,570 | |
| 1950s | 986 | |
| 1960s | 427 | |
| 1970s | 163 | |
| 1980s | 78 | |
| 1990s | 51 | |
| 2000s | 45 | |
| 2010s | 92 | |
| 2020s | 64 |
In 1919, its biggest year
Zelma was the 287th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1919 were Mary, Helen, Dorothy, Margaret and Ruth. See all of 1919.
Names that rose and fell with Zelma
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Lossiepeak 1921
- Leolapeak 1920
- Leonapeak 1918
- Alvertapeak 1918
- Beatricepeak 1921
- Estellpeak 1920
- Oziepeak 1922
- Leonepeak 1916
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.