Zaynah
An Arabic feminine name meaning "beauty" or "adornment".
Name Census estimates that about 916 living Americans carry the first name Zaynah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zaynah today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zaynah births was 2015 (44 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zaynah. 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 Zaynah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
916
~ 1 in 374,186 Americans
Peak year
2015
44 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,558
Tracked since 1983
Census
Zaynah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 701 people with the first name Zaynah, which placed it at #16,182 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
#16,182
National first-name rank
People counted
701
701 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
32.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zaynah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zaynah is Black at 32.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.2%) and White (19.4%). 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 Zaynah 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 Zaynah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American32.1% · 225
- Asian and Pacific Islander29.2% · 205
- White19.4% · 136
- Hispanic or Latino9.4% · 66
- Two or more races9.3% · 65
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 4
Popularity
Zaynah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zaynah from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 319 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zaynah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zaynah 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 Zaynah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zaynahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Zaynah, while New Jersey, Illinois, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 19 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zaynah
The name Zaynah is of Arabic origin, derived from the root word "zayn," which means "beauty" or "adornment." 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 Zaynah can be traced back to the 7th century CE, during the time of the Islamic Golden Age. It is believed that the name was popularized by the influence of Islamic culture and literature, where beauty and grace were celebrated and honored.
One of the earliest historical references to the name Zaynah can be found in the works of renowned Arab poets and writers, who often used the name as a metaphor for elegance and charm. In the famous collection of Arabic poetry, the Mu'allaqat, there are several references to women named Zaynah, celebrating their beauty and virtue.
Throughout history, there have been several notable women who bore the name Zaynah. One of the earliest recorded examples is Zaynah bint Jahsh (594-629 CE), a wife of the Prophet Muhammad and a prominent figure in early Islamic history. Another notable figure was Zaynah al-Baghdadiyyah (814-884 CE), a renowned Iraqi poet and scholar during the Abbasid Caliphate.
In the medieval period, the name Zaynah was also popular among the ruling classes and nobility. Zaynah bint al-Hakam (1019-1107 CE) was a powerful princess and regent in the Taifa of Granada, known for her political acumen and patronage of the arts. Zaynah bint Abi'l-Futuh (1215-1292 CE) was a Syrian princess and scholar who made significant contributions to the field of medicine and literature.
During the Ottoman Empire, the name Zaynah continued to be favored among the elite and intellectuals. Zaynah Khatun (1470-1537 CE) was a renowned Ottoman princess and philanthropist, known for her charitable works and support of education. Zaynah al-Ghazzali (1588-1668 CE) was a prominent Sufi mystic and scholar who wrote extensively on spiritual matters and the role of women in Islam.
These are just a few examples of the many notable women throughout history who carried the name Zaynah, a name that has endured for centuries and continues to be cherished for its association with beauty, grace, and elegance.
People
Zaynah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zaynah 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
Zaynah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zaynah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 916 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zaynah 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 374,186 US residents.
Is Zaynah a common name?
We classify Zaynah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 930 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zaynah most popular?
The single biggest year for Zaynah was 2015, when 44 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zaynah is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zaynah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 701 people with the name Zaynah, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,182 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 Zaynah 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 Zaynah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zaynah appears almost entirely female. Of the 697 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Zaynah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zaynah is Black at 32.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.2%) and White (19.4%). 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 Zaynah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zaynah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 32.1% (225 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 Zaynah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zaynah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zaynah 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 Zaynah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zaynah 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 Zaynah 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 share the name Zaynah?
Want to know how many Americans are named Zaynah? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.