Zula
Feminine
Zula appears in nineteenth-century American registers with no European ancestor, and its likeliest source is a place — a port on the Red Sea that was in the newspapers in 1868.
How old is the name Zula?
Zula was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Zula alive today was born around 1916, making them about 109 years old. About 600 people named Zula are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Zula most popular?
Zula peaked in 1881, reaching #301 nationally. Today it ranks #14942, 14,641 places below that high. See the whole 1881 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Zula
Our story of Zula begins in a newspaper. In 1868 a British army landed at a small Red Sea port called Zula and marched inland to Magdala, and the campaign was reported in every American paper for months. Names arrive that way more often than people expect — from datelines, from headlines, from words that were suddenly everywhere. Zula appears in the American registers immediately afterwards, peaked around 1885, and left no note about where it came from.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No settled origin. The commonest suggestion is the Eritrean port of Zula, which was the landing point for a widely reported British expedition to Abyssinia in 1867 and 1868. It has also been read as a form of Zulema or Zuleika, or as a coinage on the -ula ending. Nothing is documented.
Pronouncing Zula
ZOO-luh
Two syllables, stress on the first. No variation between English accents.
Nicknames for Zula
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 girls named
- 1922127 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #301reached in 1881
- Change vs 2023
- −66.7%5 in 2025, from 15
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.
Zula in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Zulah in English — spelling variant
- Zulema in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Zulas among us
people named Zula are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 321,453 born in 2025 was named Zula
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
Zula 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
Zula beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Zula in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The z gives it a distinctive opening that few names of its period had.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- It is genuinely rare while being entirely traditional in the registers.
- It has no documented meaning or parent name.
- It is easily confused with Zulu, which is unrelated.
- It is strongly period-coded to the late nineteenth century.
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Zula
Feminine · #14942 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Zulas 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 Zula are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Zula in 2025?
- Zula ranks #14942 among US girl names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Zula?
- About 1 in every 321,453 US girls born in 2025 was named Zula — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Zula with classmates?
- Zula will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Zula
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hester#14942 · Lyda#14942 · Zona#14942 · Ula#14942 · Belva#14942 · Lucetta#14942 · Leala#14942 · Martie#14942
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Zula? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Zula and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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