Zelda

• Origin: Germanic
• Meaning: “blessed; happy;” or a short form of Griselda
• Gender: Female
• Usage: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
• Variations: Selda, Zelde

The name can either be a Yiddish female name ultimately meaning “blessed; happy,” or a diminutive form of Griselda.

In the Yiddish case, the name ultimately derives from the medieval German female name Saelde, from Middle High German sælde, “happiness; good fortune; blessedness.” It is related to the German and Yiddish name Selig, which has a similar meaning.

The name became better known at the turn of the 20th-century thanks to the American writer Zelda Fitzgerald (1900–1948), who, in her case, was named for fictional characters in Jane Howard’s Zelda: A Tale of the Massachusetts Colony (1866) and Robert Edward Francillon’s Zelda’s Fortune (1874).

Zelda returned to the U.S. Top 1000, re-entering in 2015 after an absence of several decades. The name continued to rise, reaching #559 in 2020, its highest ranking in its modern revival. It has since declined in popularity and currently ranks at #832 as of 2025. In England & Wales, it ranks in at #922 (2025).

This is also the name of Princess Zelda, a principal character in the video-game series The Legend of Zelda, created by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka.

Other notable bearers include American fashion designer Zelda Wynn Valdes (1905–2001), American actress Zelda Rubinstein (1933–2010), and American actress Zelda Williams (b. 1989), daughter of Robin Williams.

Sources

• https://www.behindthename.com
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelda_(given_name)
• https://www.ssa.gov/