Zafir
A masculine Arabic name meaning "victorious" or "triumphant".
Name Census estimates that about 263 living Americans carry the first name Zafir. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zafir today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zafir births was 2022 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zafir. 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 Zafir with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
263
~ 1 in 1,303,248 Americans
Peak year
2022
15 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,266
Tracked since 1987
Census
Zafir in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 233 people with the first name Zafir, which placed it at #34,862 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
#34,862
National first-name rank
People counted
233
233 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
48.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zafir
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zafir is Black at 48.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (37.3%) and Hispanic (7.7%). 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 Zafir 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 Zafir at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American48.5% · 113
- Asian and Pacific Islander37.3% · 87
- Hispanic or Latino7.7% · 18
- White3.4% · 8
- Two or more races2.1% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 2
Popularity
Zafir: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zafir from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 83 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Zafir remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zafir 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 Zafir during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zafirs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Zafir
The name Zafir has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "zafir," which means "victorious" or "triumphant." The name dates back to ancient times and was likely used by Arab tribes and communities in the Middle East and North Africa regions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zafir can be found in the historical records of the Abbasid Caliphate, which ruled a vast empire stretching from Persia to North Africa between the 8th and 13th centuries. During this time, the name was associated with warriors and military leaders who achieved notable victories on the battlefield.
In Islamic history, the name Zafir is mentioned in some religious texts and historical accounts, often in reference to individuals who played significant roles in the spread and defense of Islam. However, the name does not appear to have any direct connection to specific figures or events in the Quran or other holy scriptures.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Zafir. One example is Zafir al-Hazili, a 10th-century Arab poet and writer who was renowned for his contributions to the literary arts during the Abbasid era. Another famous bearer of the name was Zafir al-Andalusi, a 12th-century Islamic scholar and philosopher from Al-Andalus (modern-day Spain).
In the 13th century, Zafir al-Din al-Irbili was a prominent Kurdish historian and author who wrote extensively about the Ayyubid dynasty and the Mongol invasions of the Middle East. A few centuries later, Zafir Khan was a notable military commander and governor who served under the Mughal Empire in the 16th century.
More recently, Zafir Ansari was an Indian independence activist and politician from the early 20th century. He played a significant role in the Indian National Congress and the struggle for India's independence from British rule.
These are just a few examples of historical figures who bore the name Zafir, each leaving their mark in various fields such as literature, scholarship, military leadership, and politics. The name continues to be used in several cultures and regions, carrying with it a sense of triumph and victory.
People
Zafir + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zafir 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
Zafir: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zafir?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 263 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zafir 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 1,303,248 US residents.
Is Zafir a common name?
We classify Zafir as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 266 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zafir most popular?
The single biggest year for Zafir was 2022, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zafir is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zafir in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 233 people with the name Zafir, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,862 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 Zafir 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 Zafir?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zafir leans strongly male. 231 people counted with this name were male (96.7%), compared with 8 female bearers (3.3%). 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 Zafir?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zafir is Black at 48.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (37.3%) and Hispanic (7.7%). 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 Zafir most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zafir in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.5% (113 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 Zafir in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zafir a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zafir 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 Zafir still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zafir 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 Zafir 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 Zafir as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.