Zaeem
A masculine Arabic name meaning "leader" or "commander".
Name Census estimates that about 336 living Americans carry the first name Zaeem. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zaeem today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zaeem births was 2015 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zaeem. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Zaeem with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
336
~ 1 in 1,020,102 Americans
Peak year
2015
33 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,180
Tracked since 1996
Popularity
Zaeem: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zaeem from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 172 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zaeem remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zaeem 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 Zaeem during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zaeems live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Zaeem, while Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zaeem
The name Zaeem has its origins in the Arabic language, where it is derived from the word "za'im," which means "leader" or "chief." This name has been in use in the Middle East and North Africa for centuries, with its earliest recorded instances dating back to the 7th century CE.
In Islamic history, the name Zaeem gained significance during the early years of the Umayyad Caliphate, when it was used to refer to the military commanders and governors who led armies and administered provinces on behalf of the caliph. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Zaeem ibn Anas, a prominent military leader who served under the Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I in the 7th century.
Throughout the subsequent centuries, the name Zaeem continued to be associated with leadership and authority in the Islamic world. Several notable figures bore this name, including Zaeem al-Dawla, a powerful military commander and statesman who served under the Abbasid caliph al-Muqtadir in the 10th century, and Zaeem al-Mulk, a vizier and military leader who played a key role in the Seljuk Empire in the 11th century.
In more recent times, the name Zaeem has been carried by several influential figures in the Arab world. One of the most prominent individuals with this name was Zaeem Nuri al-Said, an Iraqi politician and prime minister who played a significant role in the country's political landscape in the mid-20th century. He served as prime minister from 1958 to 1963 and was known for his pro-Western policies and his efforts to modernize Iraq.
Another notable figure with the name Zaeem was Zaeem Abdel Razek, an Egyptian intellectual and writer who lived in the early 20th century. He was a prominent advocate of Arab nationalism and played a crucial role in shaping the intellectual discourse of his time.
In addition to these historical figures, the name Zaeem has also been borne by several contemporary individuals, including Zaeem Qadri, a Pakistani cricketer who played for the national team in the 1970s and 1980s, and Zaeem Jah, a British entrepreneur and philanthropist of Pakistani descent.
People
Zaeem + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zaeem as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Z
Other first names starting with Z with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Zaeem: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zaeem?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 336 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zaeem 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 1,020,102 US residents.
Is Zaeem a common name?
We classify Zaeem as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 339 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zaeem most popular?
The single biggest year for Zaeem was 2015, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zaeem is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Zaeem in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zaeem a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zaeem in the SSA data are male. 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.
Is Zaeem still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zaeem in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Zaeem can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people share the name Zaeem?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.