Zakariya
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "God remembers" or "God has remembered".
Name Census estimates that about 2,346 living Americans carry the first name Zakariya. It is a predominantly male name (98.0% of registrations). The average person named Zakariya today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zakariya births was 2024 (169 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zakariya. 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 Zakariya with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Zakariya is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 146,102 Americans
Peak year
2024
169 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,202
Tracked since 1989
Census
Zakariya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,535 people with the first name Zakariya, which placed it at #9,176 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
#9,176
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,535 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
35.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zakariya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zakariya is Black at 35.8%. The next largest groups are White (30.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (21.7%). 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 Zakariya 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 Zakariya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American35.8% · 550
- White30.6% · 470
- Asian and Pacific Islander21.7% · 333
- Two or more races8.1% · 125
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 53
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Zakariya
Zakariya leans heavily male at 98.0% of total registrations, but 47 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Zakariya as a male name
- Ranked #1,202 in 2024
- 169 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (169 births)
Zakariya as a female name
- Ranked #16,173 in 2016
- 6 female births in 2016
- Peak: 2000 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zakariya leans strongly male. 1,469 people counted with this name were male (96.0%), compared with 62 female bearers (4.0%).
Popularity
Zakariya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zakariya from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,040 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zakariya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zakariya 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 Zakariya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zakariyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. New York, California, Minnesota recorded the most babies named Zakariya, while Missouri, Pennsylvania, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 85 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zakariya
Zakariya is a masculine given name derived from the Arabic name Zakariyya, which itself originates from the Hebrew name Zechariah. The name can be traced back to ancient Semitic languages and has its roots in the word "zakhar," meaning "to remember" or "to praise."
The name Zakariya has strong biblical connections and is found in various religious texts. In the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), Zechariah was one of the twelve minor prophets and the author of the Book of Zechariah. His name is also mentioned in the New Testament as the father of John the Baptist.
The earliest recorded use of the name Zakariya dates back to the 6th century BCE, with several individuals bearing this name mentioned in ancient Hebrew and Arabic texts. One of the most notable figures with this name is Zakariya al-Razi, a renowned Persian philosopher, alchemist, and physician who lived in the 9th and 10th centuries CE.
Throughout history, several influential figures have borne the name Zakariya. Here are five notable examples:
1. Zakariya al-Razi (854-925 CE): A Persian polymath, considered one of the most influential scholars of the Islamic Golden Age, known for his contributions to medicine, philosophy, and chemistry.
2. Zakariya al-Qazwini (1203-1283 CE): A Persian scholar, geographer, and writer, best known for his works on cosmography and natural history, such as "Ajaib al-Makhluqat" (Wonders of Creation).
3. Zakariya ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini (1203-1283 CE): A renowned Persian scholar and author of the celebrated work "Athar al-Bilad wa Akhbar al-Ibad" (Monuments of the Lands and History of God's Bondsmen).
4. Zakariya al-Ansari (1420-1520 CE): An influential Sunni Islamic scholar, jurist, and mystic from the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence, known for his work "Manhaj al-Tullab" (The Path of Students).
5. Zakariya Yahya bin Mahmud al-Kazwini (1268-1348 CE): A Persian astronomer and mathematician, known for his contributions to the study of planetary motion and the development of astronomical instruments.
These individuals, spanning different eras and regions, have contributed significantly to various fields, including religion, science, philosophy, and literature, helping to preserve and further the legacy of the name Zakariya.
People
Zakariya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zakariya 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
Zakariya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zakariya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,346 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zakariya 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 146,102 US residents.
Is Zakariya a common name?
We classify Zakariya as "Rare". It ranks above 94.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,368 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zakariya most popular?
The single biggest year for Zakariya was 2024, when 169 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zakariya is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zakariya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,535 people with the name Zakariya, or 0.51 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,176 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 Zakariya 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 Zakariya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zakariya leans strongly male. 1,469 people counted with this name were male (96.0%), compared with 62 female bearers (4.0%). 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 Zakariya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zakariya is Black at 35.8%. The next largest groups are White (30.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (21.7%). 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 Zakariya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zakariya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.8% (550 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 Zakariya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zakariya a male name?
Yes, 98.0% of people registered as Zakariya 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.
Is Zakariya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zakariya 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 Zakariya 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 common is the name Zakariya?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.