Zitlaly
Feminine · “star”
Zitlaly is Citlali, the Nahuatl word for a star, written with a Z and a final y. The stars it names were central to Aztec belief, from the goddess of the Milky Way to the ceremony that decided whether the world would go on.
How old is the name Zitlaly?
Zitlaly first appears in US birth records in 1993 — 32 years ago. The typical Zitlaly alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 600 people named Zitlaly are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Zitlaly most popular?
Zitlaly peaked in 2004, reaching #3033 nationally. See the whole 2004 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From citlalli to Zitlaly
The story of Zitlaly
In Aztec belief, Citlalicue, star skirt, was the goddess who made the stars and whose skirt was the Milky Way. Every fifty-two years, when the two Aztec calendars came back into line, priests watched the Pleiades from a hilltop near Tenochtitlan; if the stars crossed the sky at midnight, a new fire was kindled and carried to every hearth, and the world had been granted another cycle. Mexican and Mexican American families made the word for star into a girl's name, and Zitlaly spells it with a Z.
Meaning
star
From Nahuatl citlalli, star. Zitlaly is a modern given-name spelling of Citlali.
How the name formed
- citlalli
- Citlali
- Zitlaly
Related forms: Citlalli · Citlali
Pronouncing Zitlaly
seet-LAH-lee
Stress on the middle syllable. The Z is said as s in Mexican Spanish.
Nicknames for Zitlaly
Limited
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
- 1993
- Most girls named
- 200451 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3033reached in 2004
- Change vs 2021
- +40.0%7 in 2022, from 5
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.
Zitlaly in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Citlalli in Nahuatl — related form
- Citlali in Spanish — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Zitlalys among us
people named Zitlaly are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Zitlaly sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Its meaning, star, is clear and lovely.
- It connects to a living language and a rich tradition.
- Lali is a ready short form.
- English speakers may say the Z as z and stumble on the tl.
- People who know Citlali will expect a C.
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What they receive
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Zitlaly
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Zitlalys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Zitlaly are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Zitlaly in 2025?
- Zitlaly is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Zitlaly with classmates?
- Zitlaly will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More Z names
The most-given names starting with Z, all years combined.
Zoe#31 · Zoey#69 · Zara#212 · Zuri#328 · Zelma#6838 · Zelda#832 · Zariah#449 · Zella#1733
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Zitlaly? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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