Zahirah
Feminine name derived from Arabic, meaning "brilliant" or "radiant one".
Name Census estimates that about 301 living Americans carry the first name Zahirah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zahirah today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zahirah births was 2007 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zahirah. 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 Zahirah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
301
~ 1 in 1,138,719 Americans
Peak year
2007
18 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#15,188
Tracked since 1991
Census
Zahirah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 246 people with the first name Zahirah, which placed it at #33,566 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
#33,566
National first-name rank
People counted
246
246 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
74.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zahirah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zahirah is Black at 74.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.2%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Zahirah 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 Zahirah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American74.8% · 184
- Hispanic or Latino14.2% · 35
- Two or more races4.9% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 7
- White2.4% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 2
Popularity
Zahirah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zahirah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 118 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zahirah 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 Zahirah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zahirahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York recorded the most babies named Zahirah, while New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zahirah
The given name Zahirah has its origins in the Arabic language. It is derived from the Arabic root word "zah-r", which means "flower" or "blossom". The name is believed to have originated in the Middle East during the early Islamic era, around the 7th century AD.
In the Arabic culture, names often carry significant meaning and symbolism. Zahirah is a feminine name that symbolizes beauty, grace, and radiance, much like a blooming flower. It is a poetic and metaphorical name that reflects the appreciation for nature and its wonders within the Arabic tradition.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Zahirah can be found in historical records and manuscripts from the medieval Islamic world. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Zahirah bint Abi'l-Layth al-Samarkandiyyah, a renowned female scholar and poet who lived in Samarkand (modern-day Uzbekistan) during the 9th century AD.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Zahirah. One such figure was Zahirah al-Baghdadiyah, a respected female physician and scientist who lived in Baghdad during the 10th century AD. She made significant contributions to the field of medicine and wrote several treatises on various medical topics.
Another prominent individual with the name Zahirah was Zahirah al-Andalusiyyah, a renowned poet and literary figure from medieval Andalusia (modern-day Spain) during the 11th century AD. Her poetry was widely celebrated and reflected the rich cultural and intellectual environment of the time.
In the 12th century AD, Zahirah bint al-Muqaddam al-Dimashqiyyah was a notable female Sufi mystic and scholar from Damascus. She was known for her spiritual teachings and writings, which influenced the Sufi tradition in the region.
Lastly, Zahirah bint Yahya al-Qadisiyyah was a prominent female scholar and hadith expert from Qadisiyyah (modern-day Iraq) during the 13th century AD. She contributed significantly to the preservation and transmission of Islamic religious traditions and teachings.
These are just a few examples of the historical figures who bore the name Zahirah, reflecting its longstanding presence and significance within the Arabic and Islamic cultural spheres.
People
Zahirah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zahirah 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
Zahirah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zahirah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 301 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zahirah 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 1,138,719 US residents.
Is Zahirah a common name?
We classify Zahirah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 305 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zahirah most popular?
The single biggest year for Zahirah was 2007, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zahirah 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 Zahirah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 246 people with the name Zahirah, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,566 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 Zahirah 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 Zahirah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zahirah appears almost entirely female. Of the 247 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Zahirah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zahirah is Black at 74.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.2%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Zahirah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zahirah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.8% (184 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 Zahirah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zahirah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zahirah 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 Zahirah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zahirah 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 Zahirah 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 Zahirah?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Zahirah at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.