Zeb
Masculine · “dwelling”
Every one of Jacob's twelve sons is named with a speech, and the speeches are a running argument between two sisters. Leah names Zebulun saying that now, at last, her husband will dwell with her; it is the sixth son and she is still making the same case.
How old is the name Zeb?
Zeb was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Zeb alive today was born around 1969, making them about 56 years old. About 1,600 people named Zeb are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Zeb most popular?
Zeb peaked in 1888, reaching #484 nationally. Today it ranks #6803, 6,319 places below that high. See the whole 1888 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Zebulun to Zeb
The story of Zeb
The naming speeches in Genesis 29 and 30 are among the most sustained pieces of characterization in the Hebrew Bible: Leah and Rachel name their sons in a competition for Jacob's attention, and each name is given a folk etymology in the mother's own words. Zebulun is Leah's sixth and last son, and her speech reads as exhausted rather than triumphant. Zeb entered American use through the Puritan habit of mining the Old Testament, and it was a common frontier clip in the nineteenth century, particularly in the South; its best year on record is 1888.
Meaningscholars disagree
dwelling, or honor
Hebrew Zebulun is explained in Genesis by two verbs at once, one meaning to dwell and one meaning to honor or endow, and the text plays on both. Modern scholarship does not settle between them. Zeb is a clip of Zebulun and also of Zebedee, a separate New Testament name, and of Zebadiah, the Lord has bestowed.
How the name formed
- Zebulun
- Zeb
Related forms: Zevulun · Zebulon · Zebedee
Pronouncing Zeb
ZEB
One syllable, rhyming with web. No ambiguity of any kind.
Nicknames for Zeb
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 197859 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #484reached in 1888
- Change vs 2022
- −33.3%12 in 2025, from 18
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.
Zeb in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Zevulun in Hebrew — related form
- Zebulon in English — related form
- Zebedee in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: North Carolina.
Zebs among us
people named Zeb are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 142,340 born in 2025 was named Zeb
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Zeb 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
Zeb beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Zeb in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and three letters, impossible to mispronounce.
- A tribe of Israel and a New Testament family both available behind it.
- Genuinely period-authentic to nineteenth-century America.
- It reads as a short form, so people will ask what it stands for.
- The biblical explanation of the name is a play on two words at once.
- Zeb reads as strongly rural and nineteenth-century in American ears.
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What they receive
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Zeb
Masculine · #6803 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Zebs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Zeb are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Zeb in 2025?
- Zeb ranks #6803 among US boy names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Zeb?
- About 1 in every 142,340 US boys born in 2025 was named Zeb — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Zeb with classmates?
- Zeb will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Zeb
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Buster#6803 · Fabien#6803 · Eston#6803 · Tyjuan#6803 · Fuad#6803 · Aaiden#6803 · Kendal#6803 · Sanford#6803
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Zeb? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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