Zanib
A feminine Arabic name meaning "excellent quality" or "exquisite".
Name Census estimates that about 49 living Americans carry the first name Zanib. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zanib today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zanib births was 2000 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zanib. 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 Zanib with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Zanib. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
49
~ 1 in 6,994,986 Americans
Peak year
2000
9 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2008 SSA rank
#17,461
Tracked since 1997
Census
Zanib in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 166 people with the first name Zanib, which placed it at #42,903 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
#42,903
National first-name rank
People counted
166
166 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
75.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zanib
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zanib is Asian/Pacific Islander at 75.9%. The next largest groups are White (18.1%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Zanib 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 Zanib at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander75.9% · 126
- White18.1% · 30
- Two or more races3.6% · 6
- Black or African American2.4% · 4
Popularity
Zanib: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zanib from the 1990s through to the 2000s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 40 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
Zanib 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 Zanib during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zanibs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Zanib
The name Zanib has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, dating back to the 7th century CE. It is derived from the Arabic word "dhanab," which means "tail" or "something elongated." The name Zanib is considered to be a feminine form of this word.
In Islamic tradition, Zanib was the name of a woman who lived during the time of the Prophet Muhammad. She was known for her piety and devotion to her faith. The name is also mentioned in some ancient Arabic texts and historical records from that era.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Zanib can be found in the writings of the famous Arab historian and scholar, Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406 CE). He mentioned a woman named Zanib in his work, "The Muqaddimah," which is a historical study of the Arab world.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Zanib. One example is Zanib al-Qurashiyah (d. 690 CE), who was a companion of the Prophet Muhammad and is known for her contributions to the spread of Islam in the early years of the religion.
Another prominent figure with the name Zanib was Zanib al-'Awwamiyah (d. 720 CE), who was a renowned scholar of hadith (the recorded sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad) and is considered one of the earliest female traditionists in Islamic history.
In the 11th century, there was a woman named Zanib bint Abi'l-Fath al-Isfahani (d. 1030 CE), who was a celebrated poet and calligrapher in the Abbasid court in Baghdad.
During the 13th century, Zanib bint 'Ata' al-Kinani (d. 1263 CE) was a prominent Sufi mystic and scholar from Damascus, known for her contributions to the study of Sufism and Islamic spirituality.
In more recent times, one notable figure with the name Zanib was Zanib al-Ghazali (1917-2005), an Egyptian writer and activist who played a significant role in the Egyptian feminist movement and advocated for women's rights in the Arab world.
While the name Zanib has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic tradition, it has also been used in various other cultures and regions over the centuries. However, its origins and earliest recorded examples can be traced back to the Arab world and the rise of Islam in the 7th century CE.
People
Zanib + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zanib 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
Zanib: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zanib?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 49 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zanib 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 6,994,986 US residents.
Is Zanib a common name?
We classify Zanib as "Very Rare". It ranks above 54% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 50 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zanib most popular?
The single biggest year for Zanib was 2000, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zanib is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zanib in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 166 people with the name Zanib, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #42,903 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 Zanib 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 Zanib?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zanib appears almost entirely female. Of the 169 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 Zanib?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zanib is Asian/Pacific Islander at 75.9%. The next largest groups are White (18.1%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Zanib most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Zanib in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.9% (126 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 Zanib in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zanib a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zanib 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 Zanib still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zanib 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 Zanib 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 the name Zanib?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.