Holding steady, #6,838 for girls today.
Popularity of Zita since 1882
Babies named Zita per year in U.S. Social Security records. Raw births topped out in 1922, but relative to how few babies were recorded back then, Zita's real moment was 1884.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 42 |
| 1890s | 117 |
| 1900s | 164 |
| 1910s | 403 |
| 1920s | 544 |
| 1930s | 368 |
| 1940s | 240 |
| 1950s | 292 |
| 1960s | 196 |
| 1970s | 164 |
| 1980s | 65 |
| 1990s | 71 |
| 2000s | 100 |
| 2010s | 130 |
| 2020s | 81 |
Meaning & origin
Zita is a rare name in the United States, first recorded in 1882, but it has never been common. Its peak year came early, 1884, when it ranked 6838 and had roughly 1 in 100,454 girls receiving the name in 2025. The name's trajectory has been stable, never experiencing a sharp rise or fall. Though it has not appeared among top states in any recent year, Zita retains a modest, enduring appeal, carried in part by its association with Saint Zita of Lucca and its melodic, two-syllable sound.
The name Zita has at least two proposed origins. It is often traced to a Persian word meaning 'seeker' or 'desired'. In Italian, Zita developed as a short form of names like Felicita or as a diminutive, and was borne by a 13th-century Tuscan saint, Zita of Lucca, a domestic servant revered for her piety. The name saw modest use in Catholic countries before gaining broader, though still rare, international recognition.
“Zita” around the world
Where Zita lands in the latest official birth statistics abroad, matched to the U.S. spelling.
France
40
babies in 2024
Sources: INSEE (France).
Nicknames & variants
Nicknames: Zee, Zizi
Sibling names for Zita
Names that share Zita's style, for a brother or sister.
