Zaliyah
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "ascending" or "elevated".
Name Census estimates that about 1,041 living Americans carry the first name Zaliyah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zaliyah today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zaliyah births was 2021 (91 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zaliyah. 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 Zaliyah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Zaliyah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 329,255 Americans
Peak year
2021
91 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,210
Tracked since 2001
Census
Zaliyah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 480 people with the first name Zaliyah, which placed it at #21,231 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
#21,231
National first-name rank
People counted
480
480 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
71.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zaliyah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zaliyah is Black at 71.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.2%) and Two or More Races (9.8%). 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 Zaliyah 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 Zaliyah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American71.0% · 341
- Hispanic or Latino15.2% · 73
- Two or more races9.8% · 47
- White2.3% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 4
Popularity
Zaliyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zaliyah from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 498 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zaliyah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zaliyah 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 Zaliyah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zaliyahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Texas, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Zaliyah, while Tennessee, Illinois, Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zaliyah
The name Zaliyah is of Arabic origin and believed to have derived from the word "Zill," meaning shade or shelter. It is a feminine name that has been used in various parts of the Middle East and North Africa for centuries.
The earliest recorded use of the name Zaliyah can be traced back to the 7th century AD, during the rise of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula. It is possible that the name was inspired by the Quranic verse "And made for you through the night a covering, and made for you through the day sunlight." (Quran 78:10)
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Zaliyah was Zaliyah bint Abi Bakr, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad and the daughter of the first Caliph, Abu Bakr. She lived in the 7th century AD and was known for her piety and devotion to Islam.
In the 9th century AD, Zaliyah bint al-Muhassin was a renowned scholar and poet from Basra, Iraq. She was celebrated for her mastery of Arabic literature and her contributions to the field of poetry.
During the 12th century, Zaliyah al-Andalusiya was a prominent poet and scholar from the Iberian Peninsula, now known as Spain and Portugal. Her poetic works were widely admired and studied in the Muslim world.
In the 14th century, Zaliyah al-Mawsiliyah was a distinguished Muslim scholar and theologian from Mosul, Iraq. She was revered for her expertise in Islamic jurisprudence and her teachings on Quranic exegesis.
Another notable figure with the name Zaliyah was Zaliyah al-Baghdadiyah, a 16th-century poet and calligrapher from Baghdad, Iraq. Her calligraphic works were prized for their intricate designs and artistic excellence.
These are just a few examples of historical figures who bore the name Zaliyah, showcasing its rich cultural heritage and significance within the Arabic-speaking world.
People
Zaliyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zaliyah 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
Zaliyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zaliyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,041 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zaliyah 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 329,255 US residents.
Is Zaliyah a common name?
We classify Zaliyah as "Rare". It ranks above 90.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,049 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zaliyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Zaliyah was 2021, when 91 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zaliyah is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zaliyah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 480 people with the name Zaliyah, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,231 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 Zaliyah 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 Zaliyah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zaliyah appears almost entirely female. Of the 475 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Zaliyah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zaliyah is Black at 71.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.2%) and Two or More Races (9.8%). 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 Zaliyah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zaliyah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.0% (341 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 Zaliyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zaliyah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zaliyah 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 Zaliyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zaliyah 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 Zaliyah 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 Zaliyah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.