Zakiah
A feminine Arabic name meaning "pure" or "virtuous".
Name Census estimates that about 685 living Americans carry the first name Zakiah. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 66.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Zakiah today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zakiah births was 2006 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zakiah. 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 Zakiah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
685
~ 1 in 500,371 Americans
Peak year
2006
39 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,434
Tracked since 1990
Census
Zakiah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 493 people with the first name Zakiah, which placed it at #20,821 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
#20,821
National first-name rank
People counted
493
493 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
57.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zakiah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zakiah is Black at 57.6%. The next largest groups are White (19.5%) and Two or More Races (12.0%). 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 Zakiah 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 Zakiah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American57.6% · 284
- White19.5% · 96
- Two or more races12.0% · 59
- Hispanic or Latino6.7% · 33
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Zakiah
Zakiah is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 692 total registrations, 233 (33.7%) were male and 459 (66.3%) were female.
Zakiah as a male name
- Ranked #6,434 in 2024
- 14 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (19 births)
Zakiah as a female name
- Ranked #7,925 in 2024
- 14 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (31 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Zakiah on both sides of the split. Of the 495 people counted with this name, 129 were male (26.1%) and 366 were female (73.9%).
Popularity
Zakiah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zakiah 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 258 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zakiah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zakiah 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 Zakiah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zakiahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, California, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Zakiah, while Mississippi, California, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zakiah
The name Zakiah is of Arabic origin and is derived from the root word "zaka," which means "purity," "righteousness," or "to grow." It is a name that has been used for centuries in Islamic cultures, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa.
In Arabic, the name Zakiah is pronounced as "Zah-kee-yah" and is often used as a feminine name. Its masculine counterpart is "Zaki," which shares the same root and meaning. The name is believed to have been inspired by the values of purity and righteousness emphasized in Islamic teachings and the Quran.
While the exact origin of the name Zakiah is not clearly documented, it is believed to have been used as early as the 7th century, during the time of the Prophet Muhammad and the spread of Islam. Some scholars suggest that the name may have been derived from the Arabic word "zakah," which refers to the obligatory charity or alms-giving in Islam, further emphasizing the notion of purity and righteousness associated with the name.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Zakiah was Zakiah bint Abi Bakr, who lived in the 7th century and was the daughter of Abu Bakr, the first Caliph of Islam and a close companion of Prophet Muhammad. She played a significant role in preserving and transmitting the teachings of Islam.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Zakiah, including:
1. Zakiah Daradjat (1929-2013), an Indonesian scholar and author who made significant contributions to the study of Islamic psychology and education.
2. Zakiah Halim (born 1959), a Malaysian singer and actress known for her contributions to the Malaysian entertainment industry.
3. Zakiah al-Ansari (1580-1662), a renowned Islamic scholar and historian from the Ottoman Empire, known for her works on hadith (prophetic traditions) and Islamic jurisprudence.
4. Zakiah Ouihya (born 1977), a Moroccan writer and activist who has advocated for women's rights and social justice in Morocco.
5. Zakiah Talib (1942-2021), a Malaysian actress and singer who was widely regarded as a pioneer in the Malaysian theater and film industry.
The name Zakiah continues to be popular in many parts of the Muslim world, particularly in the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, as it carries a sense of cultural and religious significance. While its usage may vary across different regions and time periods, the name's association with purity, righteousness, and spiritual growth remains a common theme.
People
Zakiah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zakiah 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
Zakiah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zakiah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 685 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zakiah 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 500,371 US residents.
Is Zakiah a common name?
We classify Zakiah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 692 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zakiah most popular?
The single biggest year for Zakiah was 2006, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zakiah is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zakiah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 493 people with the name Zakiah, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,821 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 Zakiah 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 Zakiah?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Zakiah on both sides of the split. Of the 495 people counted with this name, 129 were male (26.1%) and 366 were female (73.9%). 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 Zakiah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zakiah is Black at 57.6%. The next largest groups are White (19.5%) and Two or More Races (12.0%). 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 Zakiah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zakiah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.6% (284 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 Zakiah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zakiah a female name?
Yes, 66.3% of people registered as Zakiah 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 Zakiah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zakiah 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 Zakiah 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 Zakiah as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.