Zakiyyah
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "pure" or "virtuous".
Name Census estimates that about 1,109 living Americans carry the first name Zakiyyah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zakiyyah today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zakiyyah births was 1978 (71 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zakiyyah. 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 Zakiyyah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 309,066 Americans
Peak year
1978
71 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2022 SSA rank
#17,700
Tracked since 1975
Census
Zakiyyah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 991 people with the first name Zakiyyah, which placed it at #12,527 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
#12,527
National first-name rank
People counted
991
991 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
90.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zakiyyah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zakiyyah is Black at 90.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.1%) and Hispanic (2.3%). 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 Zakiyyah 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 Zakiyyah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American90.2% · 894
- Two or more races4.1% · 41
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 18
- White1.4% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Zakiyyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zakiyyah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 338 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zakiyyah 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 Zakiyyah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zakiyyahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York recorded the most babies named Zakiyyah, while Ohio, Tennessee, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 46 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zakiyyah
The name Zakiyyah is of Arabic origin, derived from the root word "zaky," which means "pure," "virtuous," or "righteous." It has been used in the Arab world and among Muslim communities since ancient times.
In Islamic tradition, Zakiyyah is one of the names attributed to the Prophet Muhammad's daughter, Fatimah al-Zahra. This association lends the name a significant religious and cultural significance within the Islamic faith.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Zakiyyah can be found in the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam. The word "zakiyyah" is mentioned in several verses, often in reference to a purified or virtuous soul.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Zakiyyah. One of the earliest was Zakiyyah bint Ibrahim, a renowned poetess and scholar who lived in the 9th century CE in modern-day Iraq. She was highly respected for her literary contributions and her expertise in various fields of knowledge.
Another notable Zakiyyah was Zakiyyah al-Razi, a influential female physician and philosopher who lived in the 9th century CE in Persia (modern-day Iran). She made significant contributions to the field of medicine and was renowned for her expertise in gynecology and obstetrics.
In the 12th century CE, Zakiyyah al-Andalusiyah was a prominent poet and calligrapher from Islamic Spain (Andalusia). Her works were highly acclaimed, and she was celebrated for her mastery of the Arabic language and her exquisite calligraphic skills.
During the 19th century, Zakiyyah Amir was a prominent Egyptian feminist and writer who advocated for women's rights and education. She founded the first women's magazine in Egypt and played a crucial role in raising awareness about women's issues in the Arab world.
More recently, Zakiyyah Iman Jackson, born in 1963, is an American author and scholar who has written extensively on topics related to Islam, spirituality, and personal growth. Her works have gained widespread recognition and have been influential in promoting understanding and dialogue between different faiths and cultures.
People
Zakiyyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zakiyyah 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
Zakiyyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zakiyyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,109 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zakiyyah 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 309,066 US residents.
Is Zakiyyah a common name?
We classify Zakiyyah as "Rare". It ranks above 90.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,163 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zakiyyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Zakiyyah was 1978, when 71 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zakiyyah is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zakiyyah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 991 people with the name Zakiyyah, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,527 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 Zakiyyah 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 Zakiyyah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zakiyyah appears almost entirely female. Of the 978 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 Zakiyyah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zakiyyah is Black at 90.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.1%) and Hispanic (2.3%). 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 Zakiyyah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zakiyyah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.2% (894 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 Zakiyyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zakiyyah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zakiyyah 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 Zakiyyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zakiyyah 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 Zakiyyah 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 Zakiyyah as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.