Zahava
A Hebrew feminine name meaning "gold" or "radiant one".
Name Census estimates that about 798 living Americans carry the first name Zahava. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zahava today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zahava births was 2020 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zahava. 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 Zahava with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
798
~ 1 in 429,517 Americans
Peak year
2020
39 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,947
Tracked since 1973
Census
Zahava in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 734 people with the first name Zahava, which placed it at #15,622 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
#15,622
National first-name rank
People counted
734
734 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zahava
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zahava is White at 90.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.5%) and Black (3.1%). 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 Zahava 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 Zahava at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.1% · 661
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 26
- Black or African American3.1% · 23
- Two or more races2.2% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 8
Popularity
Zahava: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zahava from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 265 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zahava remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zahava 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 Zahava during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zahavas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, Florida recorded the most babies named Zahava, while California, Florida, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 93 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zahava
The name Zahava is a Hebrew name derived from the word "zahav," meaning "gold" in the ancient Hebrew language. It has its origins in the Middle East, specifically in the region that is now modern-day Israel, dating back to biblical times.
The name Zahava is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament, where it is used as a symbolic reference to the precious metal gold. In the Book of Proverbs, wisdom is likened to "more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zahava dates back to the 12th century CE, when a Jewish woman named Zahava bat Avraham lived in Judea during the Crusades period. She is mentioned in historical records as a respected scholar and teacher of the Torah.
In the 16th century, a prominent Jewish philosopher and mystic named Zahava ben Shmuel Ashkenazi lived in Safed, a city in the Galilee region of modern-day Israel. He was known for his works on Kabbalah and contributed significantly to the development of Jewish mysticism.
During the 17th century, a woman named Zahava bat Yitzchak was a renowned Hebrew calligrapher and scribe in Amsterdam, Netherlands. She was responsible for transcribing and preserving many important Jewish texts and religious writings.
In more recent history, Zahava Gal-On, born in 1956, is an Israeli politician and former leader of the Meretz political party in Israel. She has been a member of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) since 1999 and has advocated for social justice, human rights, and environmental issues.
Another notable figure with the name Zahava is Zahava Levine, born in 1940, an Israeli-American writer and journalist. She has written extensively on Jewish culture, history, and identity, and her works have been widely published and acclaimed.
Throughout its history, the name Zahava has been associated with beauty, radiance, and precious value, reflecting its origins as a symbol of gold in the ancient Hebrew language. It has been borne by scholars, mystics, artists, and influential figures across different eras and regions.
People
Zahava + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zahava 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
Zahava: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zahava?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 798 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zahava 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 429,517 US residents.
Is Zahava a common name?
We classify Zahava as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 813 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zahava most popular?
The single biggest year for Zahava was 2020, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zahava 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 Zahava in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 734 people with the name Zahava, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,622 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 Zahava 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 Zahava?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zahava appears almost entirely female. Of the 737 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Zahava?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zahava is White at 90.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.5%) and Black (3.1%). 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 Zahava most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Zahava in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.1% (661 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 Zahava in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zahava a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zahava 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.
Is Zahava still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zahava 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 Zahava 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 share the name Zahava?
Want to know how many people share the name Zahava? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.