Quetzalli
Feminine · “precious feather”
Quetzalli is a Nahuatl word, and it means something more specific than beautiful: the long green tail feather of the quetzal bird, which in Mexico before the conquest was worth more than gold.
How old is the name Quetzalli?
Quetzalli first appears in US birth records in 1996 — 29 years ago. The typical Quetzalli is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 900 people named Quetzalli are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Quetzalli most popular?
Quetzalli peaked in 2025, reaching #3211 nationally. Today it ranks #3211, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Quetzalli
The quetzal's plumes were tribute goods in the Aztec empire, carried hundreds of miles from the cloud forests of the south, and the word for them became the standard Nahuatl term for preciousness itself — it appears in surviving Nahuatl verse alongside jade as the measure of what is worth having. The same word stands inside Quetzalcoatl, the feathered-serpent name. Its use as a given name is modern and belongs to the revival of indigenous names in Mexico over the last few decades.
Meaning
precious feather; something precious
From Nahuatl quetzalli, the tail plume of the quetzal; because those feathers were among the most valuable goods in Mesoamerica, the word came to mean anything precious or beloved, and it is used that way in Nahuatl poetry.
Pronouncing Quetzalli
ket-SAH-lee
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The qu is a hard k and the tz is a single sound, as in cats.
Nicknames for Quetzalli
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1996
- Most girls named
- 201050 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3211reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +8.9%49 in 2025, from 45
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Quetzalli in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Quetzalli in Nahuatl — same name
- Quetzal in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Illinois.
Quetzallis among us
people named Quetzalli are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 32,801 born in 2025 was named Quetzalli
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Quetzalli
- #3211
- Quetzalli on the 2025 chart
- #837
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Quetzalli went to 49 girls in 2025, but Quetzali and Quetzaly are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 123, which makes it the 837th most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,374 places above the chart.
- Quetzalli49
- Quetzali44
- Quetzaly30
About 1 girl in 13,067 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 32,801 for Quetzalli itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Marit test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Quetzalli's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Marit climbed just as high around 1967, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Marit's path sketches the road Quetzalli is walking now.
Quetzalli sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Quetzalli is headed
Quetzalli looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 18% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Quetzalli beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Quetzalli in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled, vivid meaning tied to a real bird and a real history of value.
- It carries an indigenous Mexican language rather than a Spanish one, which is the point for many families.
- Spanish speakers read it correctly at first sight.
- English speakers meeting it cold reach for KWET-zally and need correcting.
- Nine letters is long for early handwriting and for American forms.
- Outside Mexico and the Mexican-American community it needs a sentence of explanation every time.
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What they receive
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Quetzalli
Feminine · #3211 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Quetzallis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Quetzalli are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Quetzalli?
- Quetzalli is the most-used spelling in US records — 49 of the 123 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Quetzali and Quetzaly.
- How popular is the name Quetzalli in 2025?
- Quetzalli ranks #3211 among US girl names in 2025, with 49 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Quetzalli?
- About 1 in every 32,801 US girls born in 2025 was named Quetzalli — 49 in all.
- Will my child share the name Quetzalli with classmates?
- Quetzalli will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Quetzalli
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kristine#3211 · Jalaya#3211 · Gladys#3211 · Amyah#3211 · Dhara#3211 · Janelly#3211 · Dariela#3211 · Auri#3211
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Quetzalli? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Quetzalli and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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