Zelaya
- Gender
- Girl
- Say it
- seh-LAH-ya
- US rank, 2025
- #5,916 for girls
Zelaya is a girls' name, meaning “meadow, field”. In 2025 it ranked 5,916th for girls in the US (20 babies).
What does Zelaya mean?
Spanish surname of Basque origin, from zelai 'meadow'
“meadow, field”
A Central American surname, borne by Nicaraguan president Jose Santos Zelaya (1853-1919).
Is Zelaya a girl's or a boy's name?
Zelaya is a girls' name. In 2025, it was given to 20 girls in the US. Too few boys were given it to be listed.
How popular is Zelaya in the US?
- Rank in 2025
- 5,916th among girls
- Babies in 2025
- 20 about 1 in 80,000 girls
- Five-year trend
- Rising up 70% in five years
- Same name in a class
- under 1% chance among 15 girls
In 2025, 20 girls in the US were named Zelaya, making it the 5,916th most popular name for girls. Five years earlier, in 2020, it was 9,541st. It first appears in the records in 2008.
2025 had the most girls named Zelaya of any year since it first appeared, in 2008.
Half of all the girls named Zelaya in the US since 1880 were born between 2017 and 2023, the years shaded on the chart below.
Zelaya in the US, year by year
| Year | Girls | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 20 | #5,916 |
| 2024 | 8 | #11,117 |
| 2023 | 18 | #6,404 |
| 2022 | 8 | #11,225 |
| 2021 | 12 | #8,459 |
| 2020 | 10 | #9,541 |
| 2019 | 5 | #15,532 |
| 2018 | 12 | #8,612 |
| 2017 | 9 | #10,685 |
| 2016 | 5 | #16,210 |
| 2015 | 0 | – |
| 2014 | 7 | #13,063 |
| 2013 | 0 | – |
| 2012 | 0 | – |
| 2011 | 0 | – |
| 2010 | 0 | – |
| 2009 | 5 | #17,288 |
| 2008 | 6 | #15,399 |
Names like Zelaya
Names given in the same years and the same naming tradition, with a similar sound.
Zaya, Zaliyah, Zaniyah, Zamira, Zahara, Zhamira, Zayla, Amoura, Safa, Alaya, Zalayah, Safiya
Names related to Zelaya
Sources
Figures from Popular Baby Names (US Social Security Administration). Nameling last updated them on 20 October 2026. How the figures are worked out, and the data to download.
To cite this page: Nameling, “Zelaya: name meaning, origin and popularity”, https://www.nameling.co.uk/names/zelaya, updated 20 October 2026.