Explore the Family Name Zion

The meaning of Zion

Jewish: artificial name from Hebrew tsion ‘(Mount) Zion’, the hill in Jerusalem on which the city of David was built, or from the male personal name derived from the name of the hill. Compare Sion. Some characteristic forenames: Jewish Moshe, Ari, Chaim, Ephraim, Hyman, Shabtai.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Zion in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Zion has seen a slight shift in the first decade of the 21st century. In 2000, Zion ranked 19,428 in popularity among surnames, with approximately 1,288 individuals carrying this name. A decade later, the rank improved slightly to 20,216, and the count increased to 1,318, marking an increase of 2.33%. However, in terms of proportion per 100,000 people, there was a decrease of 6.25%, moving from 0.48 to 0.45.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#19,428	#20,216	-4.06%
Count	1,288	1,318	2.33%
Proportion per 100k	0.48	0.45	-6.25%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Zion

The ethnic identity associated with the surname Zion also underwent changes between 2000 and 2010, according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. While the White ethnicity remained dominant with a slight decrease from 94.41% to 89.83%, significant increases were observed for the Black and Hispanic ethnicities, with growth rates of 233.33% and 171.43% respectively. The Asian/Pacific Islander group saw a decrease of 33.11%, while the American Indian and Alaskan Native group experienced an increase of 44.68%. Finally, those identifying with two or more ethnicities grew by 34.97%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.41%	89.83%	-4.85%
Black	1.32%	4.4%	233.33%
Two or More Races	1.63%	2.2%	34.97%
Hispanic	0.7%	1.9%	171.43%
Asian/Pacific Islander	1.48%	0.99%	-33.11%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.47%	0.68%	44.68%