Zebulon
Masculine · “dwelling”
Zebulon is the sixth son of Leah and the tribe that was given the land toward the sea. Genesis explains his name twice in one verse, playing on two different words, which is the writer's way of saying that a name can carry more than one thing at once.
How old is the name Zebulon?
Zebulon first appears in US birth records in 1891 — 134 years ago. The typical Zebulon alive today was born around 1990, making them about 35 years old. About 2,000 people named Zebulon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Zebulon most popular?
Zebulon peaked in 1979, reaching #775 nationally. Today it ranks #4857, 4,082 places below that high. See the whole 1979 chart.
Where it comes from
From Zevulun to Zebulon
The story of Zebulon
The tribe of Zebulun was settled in the north, in what became Galilee, and the blessing in Genesis places it toward the sea and the ships. The name entered English use after the Reformation, when Protestant families reached deep into the Old Testament, and it was well used in colonial and nineteenth-century America, where an army officer of the name gave a Colorado mountain its name. It has been rare since and has begun returning with the wider revival of long biblical names.
Meaningscholars disagree
dwelling, or honor
Genesis puns on two roots at his naming: zaval, to honor or exalt, and a word about dwelling, since Leah says her husband will now dwell with her. Hebrew naming stories often work this way, and the text does not choose between them. Modern scholars have proposed further roots without settling the matter.
How the name formed
- Zevulun
- Zaboulon
- Zebulon
Related forms: זבולון · Zebulun · Zabulón
Pronouncing Zebulon
ZEB-yoo-lun
Three syllables, stress in front. Hebrew puts the weight at the end, zev-oo-LOON, which is a noticeably different rhythm.
Nicknames for Zebulon
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
- 1891
- Most boys named
- 1979125 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #775reached in 1979
- Change vs 2024
- −16.7%20 in 2025, from 24
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.
Zebulon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- זבולון in Hebrew — transliteration
- Zebulun in English — spelling variant
- Zabulón in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: North Carolina.
Zebulons among us
people named Zebulon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 85,404 born in 2025 was named Zebulon
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Rolf test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Zebulon's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rolf climbed just as high around 1960, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rolf's path sketches the road Zebulon is walking now.
Zebulon 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
Zebulon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Zebulon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Zeb is a strong, ready short form with an American history of its own.
- It is biblical without being one of the biblical names in heavy use.
- It carries a documented colonial and nineteenth-century American record.
- Zebulun and Zebulon are both used, and bible translations do not agree either.
- Three syllables with a y sound in the middle gets flattened in casual speech.
- Its meaning is genuinely double, so a child looking it up will find two answers.
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Zebulon
Masculine · #4857 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Zebulons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,000 people named Zebulon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Zebulon in 2025?
- Zebulon ranks #4857 among US boy names in 2025, with 20 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Zebulon?
- About 1 in every 85,404 US boys born in 2025 was named Zebulon — 20 in all.
- Will my child share the name Zebulon with classmates?
- Zebulon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Zebulon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Carlyle#4857 · Russ#4857 · Hercules#4857 · Marcial#4857 · Lauro#4857 · Marin#4857 · Gil#4857 · Aloysius#4857
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Zebulon? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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