Zipporah
Feminine · “bird”
Zipporah is a bird in Hebrew — and she saves Moses's life with a flint knife in one of the strangest passages in the Torah.
How old is the name Zipporah?
Zipporah first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Zipporah alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 2,600 people named Zipporah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Zipporah most popular?
Zipporah peaked in 2018, reaching #2179 nationally. Today it ranks #2214, 35 places below that high. See the whole 2018 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From tzippor to Zipporah
The story of Zipporah
Exodus 4 has God seek to kill Moses on the road, and Zipporah takes a flint, circumcises their son, touches Moses with the foreskin and says 'a bridegroom of blood' — three verses nobody has satisfactorily explained, and she is the one who acts. The name appears in American records in current use.
Meaning
bird
From the Hebrew tzippor, 'bird', an ordinary noun. Exodus names her as the daughter of the priest of Midian and Moses's wife. The Hebrew is transparent and the reading undisputed.
How the name formed
- tzippor
- Tzipporah
- Zipporah
Related forms: צפורה · Tzipporah · Tzipi
Pronouncing Zipporah
zih-POR-uh
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Hebrew stresses the last, tzi-po-RAH.
Nicknames for Zipporah
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
- 1912
- Most girls named
- 201886 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2179reached in 2018
- Change vs 2024
- +45.6%83 in 2025, from 57
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.
Zipporah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- צפורה in Hebrew — transliteration
- Tzipporah in English — spelling variant
- Tzipi in Yiddish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Zipporahs among us
people named Zipporah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 19,365 born in 2025 was named Zipporah
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 Jaelin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Zipporah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jaelin climbed just as high around 2002, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jaelin's path sketches the road Zipporah is walking now.
Zipporah 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 Zipporah is headed
Zipporah should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Zipporah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Zipporah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That she saves Moses in three unexplained verses is a first-rate piece of scripture.
- The bird meaning is concrete and pleasant.
- Tzipi is a warm and widely used Israeli short form.
- Three syllables and an unfamiliar spelling will need dictating.
- Tzipporah is the closer transliteration.
- It reads as specifically Hebrew.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Zipporah
Feminine · #2214 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Zipporahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,600 people named Zipporah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Zipporah in 2025?
- Zipporah ranks #2214 among US girl names in 2025, with 83 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Zipporah?
- About 1 in every 19,365 US girls born in 2025 was named Zipporah — 83 in all.
- Will my child share the name Zipporah with classmates?
- Zipporah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Zipporah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hania#2214 · Perry#2214 · Bea#2214 · Lyana#2214 · Mahira#2214 · Lanie#2214 · Alorah#2214 · Nava#2214
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Zipporah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Zipporah and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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