Fun Facts About the Name Zipporah
- More than 2 thousand babies named Zipporah: U.S. records list 2,632 babies given the name Zipporah from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Zipporah Mean?
Zipporah is a Hebrew name meaning "bird." It comes from the biblical Hebrew noun tsippor (צִפּוֹר), a word for a bird, especially a small one such as a sparrow. Tsipporah (צִפּוֹרָה) is the feminine form of that noun, formed with the ending -ah.
The Book of Exodus gives no explanation of the name and does not link it to the bird word directly; the connection to tsippor is the standard etymological derivation rather than a statement in the text itself. Later Jewish and Christian commentators have read the "bird" meaning symbolically, but that is interpretation layered onto the literal sense, not a separate origin.
Zipporah Name History & Origins
Zipporah is best known from the Book of Exodus, where she is the wife of Moses and a daughter of Jethro (also called Reuel), the priest of Midian. She is named in Exodus 2:21, when Moses marries her, and again in Exodus 4:25, in the episode where she circumcises her son with a flint knife and calls Moses a "bridegroom of blood." Exodus 18:2 mentions her return to Moses with their two sons, and Numbers 12:1 refers to Moses' wife as a Cushite, which some readers take as referring to Zipporah and others as referring to a different wife.
The same Hebrew root appears elsewhere in the Bible in the masculine name Zippor, the father of Balak, king of Moab (Numbers 22:2). This shows the tsippor element functioning as a name in its own right, separate from Zipporah. The name was kept in Jewish use in forms such as Tziporah and the Yiddish Tzipoyre, and it passed into English as Zipporah, particularly among Protestants who favored names taken directly from the Bible. In modern Israel the name is common in the form Tzipora.
Because the name is drawn from the Exodus narrative, its history is tied to the story of Moses' Midianite marriage rather than to any single later literary work. The biblical account, the midrashic expansions of it, and the name's continued use in Jewish and then English-speaking communities are the main strands of that history.
How Popular is the Name Zipporah?
Zipporah has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 2018. Its best rank was #2,187 in 2018.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #2,238 | 83 | 0.0052% |
| 2024 | #2,916 | 57 | 0.0035% |
| 2023 | #2,644 | 67 | 0.0042% |
| 2022 | #2,362 | 79 | 0.0048% |
| 2021 | #2,414 | 75 | 0.0046% |
| 2020 | #2,710 | 62 | 0.0038% |
| 2019 | #2,398 | 75 | 0.0045% |
| 2018 | #2,187 | 86 | 0.0051% |
| 2017 | #2,463 | 74 | 0.0043% |
| 2016 | #2,559 | 70 | 0.0040% |
| 2015 | #2,500 | 73 | 0.0041% |
| 2014 | #2,390 | 77 | 0.0043% |
| 2013 | #2,705 | 65 | 0.0037% |
| 2012 | #2,865 | 61 | 0.0035% |
| 2011 | #3,722 | 42 | 0.0024% |
| 2010 | #2,840 | 62 | 0.0035% |
| 2009 | #3,125 | 55 | 0.0030% |
| 2008 | #2,956 | 60 | 0.0032% |
| 2007 | #2,646 | 70 | 0.0036% |
| 2006 | #2,395 | 79 | 0.0042% |
| 2005 | #3,080 | 52 | 0.0028% |
| 2004 | #2,888 | 56 | 0.0030% |
| 2003 | #2,609 | 62 | 0.0034% |
| 2002 | #2,413 | 67 | 0.0037% |
| 2001 | #2,330 | 69 | 0.0038% |
| 2000 | #2,305 | 68 | 0.0037% |
| 1999 | #2,204 | 69 | 0.0039% |
| 1998 | #3,014 | 43 | 0.0024% |
| 1997 | #3,625 | 32 | 0.0018% |
| 1996 | #2,795 | 44 | 0.0025% |
| 1995 | #3,219 | 36 | 0.0020% |
| 1994 | #3,233 | 36 | 0.0020% |
| 1993 | #3,774 | 29 | 0.0016% |
| 1992 | #3,143 | 37 | 0.0020% |
| 1991 | #3,368 | 33 | 0.0018% |
| 1990 | #4,521 | 22 | 0.0012% |
| 1989 | #2,878 | 39 | 0.0021% |
| 1988 | #3,481 | 28 | 0.0016% |
| 1987 | #3,522 | 26 | 0.0015% |
| 1986 | #3,132 | 30 | 0.0017% |
| 1985 | #3,006 | 31 | 0.0018% |
| 1984 | #2,851 | 32 | 0.0019% |
| 1983 | #4,107 | 19 | 0.0011% |
| 1982 | #5,908 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 1981 | #2,722 | 34 | 0.0020% |
| 1980 | #3,852 | 21 | 0.0013% |
| 1979 | #2,995 | 29 | 0.0018% |
| 1978 | #5,957 | 11 | 0.0007% |
| 1977 | #3,612 | 21 | 0.0014% |
| 1976 | #3,962 | 17 | 0.0012% |
| 1975 | #4,369 | 15 | 0.0010% |
| 1974 | #4,038 | 16 | 0.0011% |
| 1973 | #4,360 | 14 | 0.0010% |
| 1970 | #7,992 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1968 | #7,012 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1966 | #4,491 | 10 | 0.0006% |
| 1965 | #7,529 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1963 | #4,272 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 1962 | #6,579 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1960 | #5,693 | 7 | 0.0003% |
| 1959 | #6,242 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1957 | #7,014 | 5 | 0.0002% |
| 1953 | #6,494 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1951 | #6,212 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1950 | #6,109 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1948 | #6,039 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1924 | #5,897 | 5 | 0.0004% |
| 1923 | #5,738 | 5 | 0.0004% |
| 1921 | #5,098 | 6 | 0.0005% |
| 1916 | #3,917 | 7 | 0.0007% |
| 1912 | #3,443 | 5 | 0.0009% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Zipporah Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You have aspiration and inspiration, hope and guidance. Since you are intuitive and perceptive and you understand human nature. You have the power to achieve. Diplomacy and discretion make you a good mediator. You are inspired, introspective, and have a good understanding of the human heart. You can have the ability to commercialize your artistic talents successfully. You are often a mystery to others and to yourself. You are always reaching for something higher, without exactly knowing what that "higher" is. You are intuitive and might be interested in the arts, drama or science.
You are always looking for a chance to do your own thing, to be your own person, and to have things done your own way.
✦ Zipporah's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Zipporah's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.