Zainah
A feminine Arabic name meaning "beautiful" or "well-adorned".
Name Census estimates that about 255 living Americans carry the first name Zainah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zainah today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zainah births was 2015 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zainah. 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 Zainah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
255
~ 1 in 1,344,135 Americans
Peak year
2015
16 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,091
Tracked since 1998
Census
Zainah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 249 people with the first name Zainah, which placed it at #33,298 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
#33,298
National first-name rank
People counted
249
249 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
51.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zainah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zainah is White at 51.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (22.5%) and Black (16.1%). 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 Zainah 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 Zainah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White51.0% · 127
- Asian and Pacific Islander22.5% · 56
- Black or African American16.1% · 40
- Two or more races6.8% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 9
Popularity
Zainah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zainah 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 120 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zainah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zainah 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 Zainah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zainahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Zainah
The name Zainah has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic root word "zayn," which means "adornment," "beauty," or "grace." The name is believed to have been in use since the early days of Islam, around the 7th century AD.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zainah can be found in historical texts from the Abbasid Caliphate, which ruled a significant portion of the Middle East and North Africa from the 8th to the 13th centuries. During this period, the name was associated with nobility and refinement, reflecting the cultural values of the time.
In Islamic tradition, Zainah holds a significant place as it is one of the names attributed to Fatimah, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. This association has contributed to the name's popularity among Muslim communities throughout history.
Throughout the centuries, several notable figures have borne the name Zainah. One of the earliest recorded examples is Zainah bint Maymunah (born around 640 AD), a prominent scholar and narrator of Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) during the early Islamic era.
Another historical figure with the name Zainah was Zainah al-Dawlah (995-1023 AD), a princess and patron of the arts during the Buyid dynasty in Persia. She was known for her literary and artistic pursuits, as well as her patronage of scholars and poets.
In the 12th century, Zainah bint al-Khayr (1108-1199 AD) was a renowned poet and scholar in Andalusia (present-day Spain). Her works were celebrated for their eloquence and deep religious devotion.
During the Ottoman Empire, Zainah Khaton (1559-1628 AD) was a notable figure who served as the chief consort of Sultan Murad III. She was influential in the imperial court and played a significant role in the political affairs of the time.
In more recent history, Zainah Anwar (born 1946) is a prominent Malaysian activist and former UN Special Rapporteur on Independence of Judges and Lawyers. She has been a leading voice for women's rights and human rights in Malaysia and globally.
While the name Zainah has deep roots in the Arabic and Islamic traditions, it has also gained popularity in other cultures and regions over time, reflecting its universal appeal and meaning of beauty, grace, and adornment.
People
Zainah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zainah 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
Zainah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zainah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 255 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zainah 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 1,344,135 US residents.
Is Zainah a common name?
We classify Zainah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 258 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zainah most popular?
The single biggest year for Zainah was 2015, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zainah 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 Zainah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 249 people with the name Zainah, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,298 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 Zainah 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 Zainah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zainah leans strongly female. 251 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 3 male bearers (1.2%). 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 Zainah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zainah is White at 51.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (22.5%) and Black (16.1%). 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 Zainah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Zainah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.0% (127 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 Zainah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zainah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zainah 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 Zainah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zainah 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 Zainah 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 are called Zainah?
You can see how many Americans are named Zainah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.