Zohan
An Israeli masculine name meaning "splendor" or "radiance" in Hebrew.
Name Census estimates that about 492 living Americans carry the first name Zohan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zohan today is around 5 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zohan births was 2022 (87 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zohan. 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 Zohan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
492
~ 1 in 696,655 Americans
Peak year
2022
87 babies that year
Average age
5
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,929
Tracked since 2012
Popularity
Zohan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zohan from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 376 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
Zohan 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 Zohan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zohans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. New York, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Zohan, while Illinois, Virginia, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 41 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zohan
The name Zohan is a Hebrew name derived from the Biblical Hebrew word "zohar" meaning "radiance" or "brilliance." It can be traced back to ancient Israelite culture, where it was likely used as a descriptor or title rather than a personal name.
The earliest recorded use of Zohan as a personal name dates back to the Middle Ages, during the time of the Jewish diaspora in Europe. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Zohan ben Shlomo, a 13th-century Jewish scholar and philosopher who lived in Spain.
In the 16th century, Zohan Alemanno was an Italian Jewish philosopher and scholar who wrote extensively on Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism. He was born in Constantinople in 1492 and died in Venice in 1542.
During the 17th century, Zohan Shemtov was a prominent Sephardic Jew who lived in Amsterdam. He was a successful merchant and played an essential role in the thriving Jewish community of the city.
In the 19th century, Zohan Hirsch Kalischer was a prominent Orthodox Jewish rabbi and scholar from Thorn, Prussia (now Toruń, Poland). He was born in 1795 and died in 1874, and was a proponent of the proto-Zionist movement, advocating for the settlement of Jews in the Land of Israel.
Another notable individual with the name Zohan was Zohan Ginzburg, a Russian-born Israeli author and journalist who lived from 1892 to 1961. He was a prolific writer and published numerous works on Jewish history and culture.
While the name Zohan has its roots in ancient Hebrew culture, it has since been adopted by various Jewish communities around the world, particularly in Israel and among Sephardic Jews. However, it remains a relatively uncommon name overall.
People
Zohan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zohan 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
Zohan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zohan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 492 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zohan 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 696,655 US residents.
Is Zohan a common name?
We classify Zohan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 495 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zohan most popular?
The single biggest year for Zohan was 2022, when 87 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zohan is about 5 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Zohan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zohan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zohan 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 Zohan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zohan 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 Zohan 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people share the name Zohan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.