Shahrzad
A Persian feminine name meaning "keeper or defender of the city".
Name Census estimates that about 117 living Americans carry the first name Shahrzad. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shahrzad today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shahrzad births was 1979 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shahrzad. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
117
~ 1 in 2,929,524 Americans
Peak year
1979
12 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2001 SSA rank
#17,487
Tracked since 1976
Popularity
Shahrzad: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shahrzad from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 65 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shahrzad by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Shahrzad during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shahrzads live
Origin
Meaning and history of Shahrzad
The name Shahrzad has its roots in the Persian language and culture, originating during the medieval Islamic era. The name is derived from the Persian words "shahr," meaning city, and "zad," meaning born or descended from, thus suggesting the meaning "city-born" or "of noble birth."
One of the earliest and most famous references to the name Shahrzad is found in the iconic Persian literary work, "The Book of One Thousand and One Nights," also known as the "Arabian Nights." In this collection of Middle Eastern folk tales, Shahrzad is the name of the storytelling queen who captivates her husband, the ruthless King Shahryar, with her enchanting tales, ultimately saving her life and those of countless other women.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Shahrzad date back to the 10th century CE during the Samanid Empire in Central Asia. One notable bearer of the name was Shahrzad Khatun, a princess from the Samanid dynasty, who lived in the late 10th century.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Shahrzad. One of the most famous was Shahrzad Mirzā Qājār (1805-1848), a Persian princess and the daughter of Fath Ali Shah Qajar, the second Shah of the Qajar dynasty in Iran. She was renowned for her literary talents and wrote several works, including a memoir titled "Tuhfat al-'Alam."
Another prominent figure with the name Shahrzad was Shahrzad Afshar (1898-1973), an Iranian feminist, writer, and educator. She played a significant role in advocating for women's rights and education in Iran during the early 20th century.
In the realm of literature, Shahrzad Gholami (1922-2005) was an influential Iranian novelist and short story writer. Her works often explored themes of gender, social class, and the complexities of Iranian society.
Shahrzad Akbar (born 1988) is a notable contemporary figure from Afghanistan. She is a former chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and has been an outspoken advocate for human rights, particularly women's rights, in her country.
The name Shahrzad has a rich cultural heritage, rooted in the Persian language and literature, and has been carried by numerous influential figures throughout history, spanning various fields and time periods.
People
Shahrzad + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shahrzad as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Shahrzad: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shahrzad?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 117 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shahrzad going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,929,524 US residents.
Is Shahrzad a common name?
We classify Shahrzad as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 124 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shahrzad most popular?
The single biggest year for Shahrzad was 1979, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shahrzad is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Shahrzad a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shahrzad in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.