Zarin
A feminine name of Persian origin meaning "golden" or "made of gold".
Name Census estimates that about 234 living Americans carry the first name Zarin. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 50.6% of registrations being female. The average person named Zarin today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zarin births was 2008 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zarin. 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 Zarin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
234
~ 1 in 1,464,762 Americans
Peak year
2008
19 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2020 SSA rank
#11,991
Tracked since 1996
Census
Zarin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 589 people with the first name Zarin, which placed it at #18,321 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
#18,321
National first-name rank
People counted
589
589 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
55.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zarin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zarin is Asian/Pacific Islander at 55.2%. The next largest groups are White (21.7%) and Black (8.7%). 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 Zarin 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 Zarin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander55.2% · 325
- White21.7% · 128
- Black or African American8.7% · 51
- Two or more races8.1% · 48
- Hispanic or Latino5.4% · 32
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Zarin
Zarin is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 237 total registrations, 117 (49.4%) were male and 120 (50.6%) were female.
Zarin as a male name
- Ranked #11,991 in 2020
- 6 male births in 2020
- Peak: 2008 (10 births)
Zarin as a female name
- Ranked #15,041 in 2020
- 6 female births in 2020
- Peak: 2010 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Zarin on both sides of the split. Of the 589 people counted with this name, 162 were male (27.5%) and 427 were female (72.5%).
Popularity
Zarin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zarin from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 118 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zarin 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 Zarin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zarins live
Origin
Meaning and history of Zarin
The name Zarin has its roots in the Persian language, originating from the word "zar" which means gold or golden. This suggests that the name likely emerged in ancient Persia, the region now known as Iran, during the time when the Persian Empire was at its peak, around the 6th century BCE.
Zarin was a popular name among the nobility and aristocracy of the Persian Empire, as gold was associated with wealth, prosperity, and grandeur. The earliest recorded use of the name can be traced back to the Achaemenid era, where it was mentioned in ancient Persian inscriptions and manuscripts.
In the epic Persian poem, the Shahnameh, written by the renowned poet Ferdowsi in the 10th century CE, there is a character named Zarin, who is depicted as a beautiful and virtuous woman. This literary reference further solidifies the name's ancient Persian roots and its association with beauty and virtue.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Zarin. One of the earliest was Zarin Taj Begum (1592-1686), a Mughal princess and the daughter of Prince Daniyal, the eldest son of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. She was renowned for her beauty, intelligence, and patronage of the arts.
Another prominent figure was Zarin Khanum (1856-1936), an Iranian princess and the daughter of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, the king of Persia. She was known for her progressive views and her support for women's education and social reforms.
In the 20th century, Zarin Daruwalla (1935-2018) was an Indian astrologer and author, widely recognized for her expertise in Vedic astrology and her numerous publications on the subject.
Zarin Patel (1918-2000) was a prominent Indian freedom fighter and social activist, who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement and worked tirelessly for the upliftment of women and underprivileged communities.
More recently, Zarin Khuzwayo (1956-2021) was a South African activist and advocate for women's rights and gender equality. She was a prominent figure in the struggle against apartheid and continued her activism after the transition to democracy, focusing on issues of gender-based violence and economic empowerment.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Zarin throughout history, highlighting its rich cultural heritage and the diverse backgrounds of those who have borne this name.
People
Zarin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zarin 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
Zarin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zarin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 234 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zarin 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 1,464,762 US residents.
Is Zarin a common name?
We classify Zarin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 237 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zarin most popular?
The single biggest year for Zarin was 2008, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zarin is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zarin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 589 people with the name Zarin, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,321 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 Zarin 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 Zarin?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Zarin on both sides of the split. Of the 589 people counted with this name, 162 were male (27.5%) and 427 were female (72.5%). 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 Zarin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zarin is Asian/Pacific Islander at 55.2%. The next largest groups are White (21.7%) and Black (8.7%). 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 Zarin most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Zarin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.2% (325 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 Zarin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zarin a female name?
Yes, 50.6% of people registered as Zarin 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 Zarin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zarin 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 Zarin 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 Zarin?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.