Zaire
African place name deriving from a Kikongo word meaning "river".
Name Census estimates that about 10,168 living Americans carry the first name Zaire. It sits at #472 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 86.1% of registrations being male. The average person named Zaire today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zaire births was 2023 (674 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zaire. 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.
Key insights
- • Zaire is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
10K
~ 1 in 33,709 Americans
Peak year
2023
674 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#472
Tracked since 1974
Gender
Gender distribution for Zaire
Zaire leans heavily male at 86.1% of total registrations, but 1,425 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Zaire as a male name
- Ranked #472 in 2024
- 651 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (655 births)
Zaire as a female name
- Ranked #8,391 in 2024
- 13 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (83 births)
Popularity
Zaire: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zaire 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 3,200 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zaire 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 Zaire during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zaires live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Zaire, while Iowa, Oregon, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 232 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zaire
The name Zaire is of African origin, derived from the name of the Congo River, which was formerly known as the Zaire River. The name Zaire itself is believed to have originated from the Portuguese word "Zaire," which means "great river."
The earliest recorded use of the name Zaire can be traced back to the late 15th century, when Portuguese explorers first encountered the Congo River. The name was initially used to refer to the region surrounding the river, but over time, it became associated with the country of Zaire, which was formerly known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In ancient times, the name Zaire was not widely used as a personal name. However, it gained popularity in the 20th century, particularly after the country of Zaire gained independence from Belgium in 1960. The name became a symbol of African pride and identity, and many parents chose to name their children Zaire as a way of celebrating their African heritage.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Zaire was Zaire Nkongolo, a Congolese political activist and writer who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Nkongolo played a significant role in the struggle for Congolese independence and wrote extensively about the impact of colonialism on African societies.
Another notable figure with the name Zaire was Zaire Mussa Kabengele, a Congolese musician and composer who lived from 1950 to 2015. Kabengele was a pioneer of Congolese rumba music and is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation.
In the realm of sports, Zaire Mussa, a Congolese soccer player who played for various clubs in Europe and Africa during the 1970s and 1980s, was also a prominent figure with the name Zaire.
Zaire Meira, a Brazilian actress and model who gained fame in the early 2000s, is another individual with the name Zaire who has made a mark in popular culture.
Lastly, Zaire Kinshasa, an American rapper and songwriter who rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s, is a notable figure with the name Zaire in the music industry.
People
Zaire + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zaire 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
Zaire: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zaire?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,168 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zaire 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 33,709 US residents.
Is Zaire a common name?
We classify Zaire as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,284 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zaire most popular?
The single biggest year for Zaire was 2023, when 674 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zaire is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Zaire a male name?
Yes, 86.1% of people registered as Zaire in the SSA data are male. 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.
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.