Zulaika
A feminine Arabic name meaning "brilliant and beautiful hair".
Name Census estimates that about 9 living Americans carry the first name Zulaika. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zulaika today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zulaika births was 1983 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zulaika. 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 Zulaika with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Zulaika. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
9
~ 1 in 38,083,815 Americans
Peak year
1983
5 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
1986 SSA rank
#12,835
Tracked since 1983
Census
Zulaika in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 141 people with the first name Zulaika, which placed it at #46,868 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
#46,868
National first-name rank
People counted
141
141 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
66.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zulaika
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zulaika is Hispanic at 66.0%. The next largest groups are Black (13.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.3%). 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 Zulaika 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 Zulaika at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino66.0% · 93
- Black or African American13.5% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.3% · 16
- Two or more races5.0% · 7
- White2.8% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 2
Popularity
Zulaika: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Zulaika 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 Zulaika during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 0 | 10 | 10 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Zulaika
Zulaika is a feminine given name with origins in the Arabic language. It is derived from the Arabic name Zulaikha, which has its roots in the Persian name Zulaykha. The name Zulaykha is mentioned in the Qur'an and is associated with the Biblical figure of Potiphar's wife, who tried to seduce Joseph.
The name Zulaika likely emerged in the Middle East during the early centuries of Islam's spread across the region. It gained popularity among Arabic-speaking communities and subsequently spread to other parts of the world through cultural exchange and migration.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zulaika can be found in the works of medieval Arabic literature. The 11th-century Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi, in his epic poem "Khosrow and Shirin," mentions a character named Zulaika who was renowned for her beauty and grace.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Zulaika. One such figure was Zulaika Jerrahi (1894-1984), a Turkish Sufi mystic and spiritual teacher who played a significant role in the spread of the Jerrahi Sufi order in the United States.
Another prominent bearer of the name was Zulaika Saidova (1912-2002), a Soviet actress and film director from Uzbekistan. She was best known for her roles in Uzbek classic films and her contributions to the development of Uzbek cinema.
In the realm of literature, Zulaika Ghumri (1910-1967) was a renowned Afghan poet and writer. Her poetry often explored themes of love, freedom, and the struggles of women in traditional Afghan society.
The name Zulaika also gained recognition in the world of music. Zulaika Araujo (1919-2013) was a prominent Brazilian singer and actress who specialized in samba and bossa nova genres. She was widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in Brazilian popular music.
Another notable figure was Zulaika Ali (1878-1950), an Indian poet and activist who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement. She was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi and actively participated in civil disobedience campaigns against British rule.
People
Zulaika + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zulaika 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
Zulaika: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zulaika?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zulaika 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 38,083,815 US residents.
Is Zulaika a common name?
We classify Zulaika as "Very Rare". It ranks above 25.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zulaika most popular?
The single biggest year for Zulaika was 1983, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zulaika is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zulaika in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 141 people with the name Zulaika, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #46,868 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 Zulaika 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 Zulaika?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zulaika appears almost entirely female. Of the 135 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Zulaika?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zulaika is Hispanic at 66.0%. The next largest groups are Black (13.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.3%). 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 Zulaika most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Zulaika in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.0% (93 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 Zulaika in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zulaika a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zulaika 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 Zulaika still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zulaika 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 Zulaika 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 Zulaika?
See how many people share the name Zulaika on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.