Zein
A masculine Arabic name meaning "beauty" or "adornment".
Name Census estimates that about 422 living Americans carry the first name Zein. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zein today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zein births was 2018 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zein. 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 Zein with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
422
~ 1 in 812,214 Americans
Peak year
2018
36 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,303
Tracked since 1991
Census
Zein in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 465 people with the first name Zein, which placed it at #21,716 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
#21,716
National first-name rank
People counted
465
465 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zein
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zein is White at 71.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.1%) and Black (6.9%). 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 Zein 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 Zein at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.8% · 334
- Hispanic or Latino10.1% · 47
- Black or African American6.9% · 32
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.0% · 28
- Two or more races4.7% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 2
Popularity
Zein: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zein 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 186 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zein remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zein 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 Zein during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zeins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, California, Michigan recorded the most babies named Zein, while Texas, Michigan, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zein
The name Zein originates from the Arabic language and has its roots in the Arabic word "زين" (zayn), which means "beauty" or "adornment." It is believed to have been in use since the early days of Islam, around the 7th century AD, in the Arabian Peninsula and the regions that were influenced by Arabic culture and the spread of Islam.
The name Zein is found in various Islamic texts and historical records, including the Quran and Hadith literature. One notable example is the mention of the name in the Quran, where it is used as a descriptive term for adorning or beautifying oneself.
In the early centuries of Islam, the name Zein was relatively common among Arab populations, particularly in regions such as the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, and North Africa. As Islam spread to other parts of the world, the name also gained popularity in places like Persia (modern-day Iran), Central Asia, and parts of the Indian subcontinent.
Some notable historical figures who bore the name Zein include:
1. Zein al-Abidin (658-713 AD), the fourth Imam in Shia Islam and a highly revered figure in Islamic history.
2. Zein al-Din al-Amidi (1156-1233 AD), a renowned Islamic scholar and philosopher from modern-day Iran.
3. Zein al-Din al-Basri (1293-1389 AD), a famous Sufi mystic and poet from Basra, Iraq.
4. Zein al-Din al-Junayd (1156-1258 AD), a prominent Islamic scholar and jurist from Damascus, Syria.
5. Zein al-Din Mahmud Wasiti (1293-1384 AD), a celebrated Persian poet and Sufi mystic from Wasit, modern-day Iraq.
While the name Zein has its roots in Arabic and Islamic culture, it has also been adopted and used in various other cultures and languages over time. However, its primary association remains with the Arabic and Islamic worlds, where it continues to be a popular name choice, often carrying connotations of beauty, grace, and adornment.
People
Zein + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zein 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
Zein: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zein?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 422 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zein 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 812,214 US residents.
Is Zein a common name?
We classify Zein as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 426 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zein most popular?
The single biggest year for Zein was 2018, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zein is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zein in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 465 people with the name Zein, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,716 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 Zein 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 Zein?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Zein on both sides of the split. Of the 468 people counted with this name, 366 were male (78.2%) and 102 were female (21.8%). 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 Zein?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zein is White at 71.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.1%) and Black (6.9%). 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 Zein most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Zein in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.8% (334 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 Zein in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zein a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zein in the SSA data are male. 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 Zein still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zein 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 Zein 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 are called Zein?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.