Zafar
A name of Arabic origin meaning "victory" or "success".
Name Census estimates that about 138 living Americans carry the first name Zafar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zafar today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zafar births was 2017 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zafar. 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 Zafar with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
138
~ 1 in 2,483,727 Americans
Peak year
2017
14 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,188
Tracked since 1993
Census
Zafar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,229 people with the first name Zafar, which placed it at #10,708 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#10,708
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,229 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
83.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zafar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zafar is Asian/Pacific Islander at 83.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.1%) and White (5.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Zafar described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Zafar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander83.2% · 1,022
- Two or more races8.1% · 99
- White5.5% · 68
- Black or African American2.6% · 32
- Hispanic or Latino0.4% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 3
Popularity
Zafar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zafar 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 74 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zafar remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zafar 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 Zafar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zafars live
Origin
Meaning and history of Zafar
The name Zafar is derived from the Arabic word 'zafar' which means 'victory' or 'triumph'. It has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, and is believed to have been in use since ancient times.
The earliest known reference to the name Zafar can be found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam, where it is mentioned as one of the names of God. This suggests that the name has been in use for over 1400 years.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Zafar was Zafar Khan, a Mughal nobleman who lived in the 16th century. He was the governor of Gujarat and played a pivotal role in the Mughal conquest of the region.
Another notable figure was Zafar Ali Khan, a 19th century ruler of the princely state of Rampur in British India. He is remembered for his patronage of the arts and literature, and for modernizing his state.
In the modern era, one of the most famous individuals with the name Zafar was Mohammad Zafar, the last Mughal Emperor of India. He ascended to the throne in 1837 and was a prominent figure during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the British East India Company.
Beyond the Indian subcontinent, one of the most well-known individuals with the name Zafar was Zafar Bangash, a Pakistani cricketer who played for the national team in the 1970s and 1980s. He is considered one of the best all-rounders in the history of Pakistani cricket.
Another notable figure was Zafar Ansari, an English cricketer of Pakistani descent who played for the England national team in the early 2010s. He was born in 1992 and is known for his all-round abilities as a left-arm spinner and a right-handed batsman.
People
Zafar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zafar 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
Zafar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zafar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 138 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zafar 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 2,483,727 US residents.
Is Zafar a common name?
We classify Zafar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 139 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zafar most popular?
The single biggest year for Zafar was 2017, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zafar is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zafar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,229 people with the name Zafar, or 0.41 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,708 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Zafar in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Zafar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zafar leans strongly male. 1,210 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 16 female bearers (1.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Zafar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zafar is Asian/Pacific Islander at 83.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.1%) and White (5.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Zafar most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Zafar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.2% (1,022 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
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 Zafar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zafar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zafar 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 Zafar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zafar 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 Zafar 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.
How many people have the name Zafar?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.