Zainab
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "one who adorns" or "fragrant flower".
Name Census estimates that about 6,885 living Americans carry the first name Zainab. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zainab today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zainab births was 2024 (316 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zainab. 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 Zainab with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Zainab is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
6.9K
~ 1 in 49,783 Americans
Peak year
2024
316 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#853
Tracked since 1957
Census
Zainab in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,691 people with the first name Zainab, which placed it at #2,511 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
#2,511
National first-name rank
People counted
9.7K
9,691 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
41.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zainab
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zainab is Asian/Pacific Islander at 41.3%. The next largest groups are White (30.2%) and Black (21.2%). 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 Zainab 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 Zainab at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander41.3% · 4,005
- White30.2% · 2,931
- Black or African American21.2% · 2,055
- Two or more races5.7% · 548
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 138
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 14
Popularity
Zainab: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zainab from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,720 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zainab remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zainab 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 Zainab during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zainabs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 24 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Zainab, while Louisiana, Wisconsin, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 228 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zainab
The name Zainab has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic root word "zayn," which means "adornment" or "beauty." The name is believed to have been in use since the early days of Islam, around the 7th century CE.
One of the most significant historical references to the name Zainab can be found in the Islamic tradition, where it was the name of the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija. Zainab bint Muhammad (circa 598-629 CE) was highly revered in the Islamic faith and is considered one of the most influential women in early Islamic history.
Another prominent figure with the name Zainab was Zainab bint Ali (circa 628-683 CE), the daughter of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth caliph of Islam, and Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. She played a crucial role in the events surrounding the Battle of Karbala and is widely respected in the Shia Islamic tradition.
In the realm of literature, the name Zainab appears in the famous Arabic literary work, "One Thousand and One Nights" (also known as "The Arabian Nights"). One of the stories, "The Tale of Zainab and the Fearless Cyclops," features a character named Zainab who displays courage and resilience.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Zainab. One example is Zainab al-Ghazali (1917-2005), an Egyptian writer and activist who played a significant role in the Egyptian feminist movement and the fight against British colonial rule.
Another prominent individual was Zainab Badawi (1909-2002), a Sudanese women's rights activist and politician who fought for gender equality and women's empowerment in Sudan. She was one of the first women to hold a ministerial position in the Sudanese government.
The name Zainab has also been carried by literary figures, such as Zainab Fedawi (1904-1976), a Palestinian writer and poet who addressed themes of resistance and national identity in her works.
While the name Zainab has its roots in the Arab world, it has gained popularity and recognition across various cultures and regions, reflecting the diverse and rich history associated with this name.
People
Zainab + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zainab 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
Zainab: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zainab?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,885 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zainab 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 49,783 US residents.
Is Zainab a common name?
We classify Zainab as "Rare". It ranks above 97.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,985 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zainab most popular?
The single biggest year for Zainab was 2024, when 316 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zainab is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zainab in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,691 people with the name Zainab, or 3.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,511 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 Zainab 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 Zainab?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zainab appears almost entirely female. Of the 9,692 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 Zainab?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zainab is Asian/Pacific Islander at 41.3%. The next largest groups are White (30.2%) and Black (21.2%). 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 Zainab most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Zainab in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.3% (4,005 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 Zainab in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zainab a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zainab 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 Zainab still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zainab 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 Zainab 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 Zainab?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Zainab, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.