Zayla
An Arabic name meaning "shadow" or "shade."
Name Census estimates that about 3,665 living Americans carry the first name Zayla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zayla today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zayla births was 2023 (350 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zayla. 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 Zayla with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Zayla 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
3.7K
~ 1 in 93,521 Americans
Peak year
2023
350 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#993
Tracked since 1994
Census
Zayla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,831 people with the first name Zayla, which placed it at #8,042 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
#8,042
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,831 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
31.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zayla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zayla is White at 31.0%. The next largest groups are Black (30.9%) and Hispanic (25.8%). 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 Zayla 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 Zayla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White31.0% · 568
- Black or African American30.9% · 565
- Hispanic or Latino25.8% · 472
- Two or more races9.4% · 173
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 25
Popularity
Zayla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zayla 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 1,731 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
Zayla 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 Zayla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zaylas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Zayla, while Nebraska, Mississippi, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 66 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zayla
The name Zayla is of Arabic origin, derived from the word "zayl," which means "shadow" or "shade." It is believed to have been in use as a given name since the 7th century CE, during the time of the Islamic Golden Age.
In its earliest form, the name was spelled "Zaylah" or "Zaylaa." It was particularly popular among Arabic-speaking communities in the Middle East and North Africa. The name's association with the concept of "shade" or "protection" may have been seen as a positive attribute, signifying a sense of comfort and security.
While the name does not appear to be directly referenced in ancient religious texts or scriptures, it is possible that it was inspired by the Arabic phrase "fi zill Allah," which means "in the shade of God." This phrase is often used to convey a sense of divine protection and guidance.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zayla can be found in the writings of the 10th-century Arab historian and geographer, Al-Muqaddasi. He mentioned a town called "Zayla" located in present-day Somalia, which was an important trading port during the Middle Ages.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the name Zayla, including:
1. Zayla al-Basri (born c. 640 CE), a renowned Islamic scholar and theologian from Basra, Iraq, known for her expertise in Quranic exegesis and hadith studies.
2. Zayla al-Andalusi (died c. 1086 CE), a renowned Arab mathematician and astronomer from Al-Andalus (modern-day Spain and Portugal), who made significant contributions to the field of trigonometry.
3. Zayla bint Abi Bakr (born c. 610 CE), the daughter of the first Caliph of Islam, Abu Bakr. She was a prominent figure in early Islamic history and is remembered for her piety and devotion.
4. Zayla al-Rumi (born c. 1260 CE), a celebrated Turkish poet and mystic from Anatolia, known for her beautiful and insightful verses on Sufism and spiritual enlightenment.
5. Zayla al-Qaramanli (born c. 1750 CE), a prominent ruler of the Qaramanli dynasty in Libya, who played a significant role in the country's resistance against Ottoman rule in the late 18th century.
While the name Zayla has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, it has gained popularity in various parts of the world over time, transcending cultural and linguistic boundaries.
People
Zayla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zayla 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
Zayla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zayla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,665 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zayla 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 93,521 US residents.
Is Zayla a common name?
We classify Zayla as "Rare". It ranks above 95.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,694 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zayla most popular?
The single biggest year for Zayla was 2023, when 350 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zayla 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 Zayla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,831 people with the name Zayla, or 0.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,042 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 Zayla 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 Zayla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zayla appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,838 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Zayla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zayla is White at 31.0%. The next largest groups are Black (30.9%) and Hispanic (25.8%). 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 Zayla most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Zayla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 31.0% (568 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 Zayla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zayla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zayla 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 Zayla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zayla 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 Zayla 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 Americans are named Zayla?
See how many Americans are named Zayla on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.