Zaineb
An Arabic feminine name meaning "fragrant flower" or "radiant beauty".
Name Census estimates that about 246 living Americans carry the first name Zaineb. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zaineb today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zaineb births was 2000 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zaineb. 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 Zaineb with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
246
~ 1 in 1,393,310 Americans
Peak year
2000
15 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2022 SSA rank
#15,248
Tracked since 1991
Census
Zaineb in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 382 people with the first name Zaineb, which placed it at #24,991 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
#24,991
National first-name rank
People counted
382
382 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zaineb
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zaineb is White at 56.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (33.5%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Zaineb 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 Zaineb at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.5% · 216
- Asian and Pacific Islander33.5% · 128
- Two or more races5.0% · 19
- Black or African American4.2% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Zaineb: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zaineb 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 121 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
Zaineb 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 Zaineb during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zainebs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Zaineb
The name Zaineb has its origins in the Arabic language. It is a feminine form of the name Zain, which means "adornment" or "grace" in Arabic. The name is derived from the Arabic root word "zayn," which means "beauty" or "splendor."
Zaineb is a popular name among Muslims, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. It holds a significant cultural and religious significance in these regions. The name is believed to have been inspired by Zainab bint Ali, the granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad and the daughter of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Fatimah al-Zahra.
Historically, the name Zaineb has been associated with several notable figures. One of the earliest recorded examples is Zainab bint Khuzaimah, who was one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad. She lived in the 7th century and is known for her piety and devotion to Islam.
Another prominent figure with the name Zaineb is Zainab al-Ghazali, an Egyptian activist and author who played a significant role in the Egyptian revolution of 1919. She was born in 1917 and was a prominent figure in the women's rights movement in Egypt.
In the literary realm, Zaineb is the name of a character in the famous Arabic novel "Children of Gebelawi" by the Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz. The novel, published in 1959, explores themes of religion, power, and social dynamics in a fictional village.
One of the most famous historical figures with the name Zaineb is Zainab bint Ali, the granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad. She lived in the 7th century and is revered in Shia Islam for her courage and resilience during the Battle of Karbala, where she played a pivotal role in preserving the teachings of Islam.
In the realm of art, Zaineb Sedira is a renowned Algerian-French artist and filmmaker known for her explorations of identity, migration, and cultural memory. She was born in 1963 and has received numerous awards and accolades for her work.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Zaineb throughout history, reflecting its cultural and religious significance, as well as its association with various artistic and literary works.
People
Zaineb + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zaineb 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
Zaineb: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zaineb?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 246 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zaineb 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 1,393,310 US residents.
Is Zaineb a common name?
We classify Zaineb as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 250 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zaineb most popular?
The single biggest year for Zaineb was 2000, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zaineb is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zaineb in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 382 people with the name Zaineb, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,991 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 Zaineb 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 Zaineb?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zaineb appears almost entirely female. Of the 387 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 Zaineb?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zaineb is White at 56.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (33.5%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Zaineb most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Zaineb in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.5% (216 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 Zaineb in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zaineb a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zaineb 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 Zaineb still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zaineb 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 Zaineb 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 Zaineb?
You can see how many Americans are named Zaineb on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.