Zuleyma
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "beautiful, bright, shining".
Name Census estimates that about 911 living Americans carry the first name Zuleyma. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zuleyma today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zuleyma births was 1990 (49 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zuleyma. 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.
People living today
911
~ 1 in 376,240 Americans
Peak year
1990
49 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,142
Tracked since 1984
Census
Zuleyma in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,356 people with the first name Zuleyma, which placed it at #9,993 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
#9,993
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,356 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
98.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zuleyma
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zuleyma is Hispanic at 98.5%. The next largest groups are White (0.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.3%). 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 Zuleyma 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 Zuleyma at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino98.5% · 1,335
- White0.8% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 4
- Black or African American0.2% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
- Two or more races0.1% · 1
Popularity
Zuleyma: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zuleyma from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 293 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Zuleyma remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zuleyma 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 Zuleyma during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zuleymas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Zuleyma, while Florida, New York, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 98 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zuleyma
The given name Zuleyma is of Arabic origin, derived from the name Zulaikha, which in turn comes from the Hebrew name Zillah. It is believed to have emerged around the 7th century CE, during the rise of Islam and the spread of Arabic culture across the Middle East and parts of Africa.
In Arabic tradition, Zulaikha is a prominent figure in the story of Yusuf (Joseph) from the Quran. She was the wife of Al-Aziz, a powerful Egyptian nobleman, who became infatuated with the prophet Yusuf due to his exceptional beauty and virtue. The name Zulaikha is often associated with temptation, desire, and unrequited love in Islamic literature.
The earliest known recorded use of the name Zuleyma dates back to the 9th century CE, when it appeared in various Arabic texts and historical records. One of the earliest notable figures with this name was Zuleyma bint Abi Daud, a renowned poet and scholar who lived in Cordoba, Spain, during the 10th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Zuleyma. These include Zuleyma Rosario (1969-), a Puerto Rican actress and television personality, and Zuleyma Rivera (1987-), a Mexican professional boxer and former world champion in the super bantamweight division.
In the realm of literature, Zuleyma is the name of a character in the novel "The Bride of Lammermoor" by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1819. The name also appears in the works of several other renowned authors, such as Gabriel García Márquez and Mario Vargas Llosa.
Another noteworthy bearer of the name was Zuleyma Sacur (1922-1995), a Colombian painter and sculptor known for her vibrant and colorful works that celebrated the culture and traditions of her native country.
The name Zuleyma has also been associated with historical figures from other regions, such as Zuleyma Makram (1918-2008), an Egyptian politician and diplomat who served as the first female minister in the Arab world.
People
Zuleyma + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zuleyma 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
Zuleyma: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zuleyma?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 911 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zuleyma 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 376,240 US residents.
Is Zuleyma a common name?
We classify Zuleyma 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, 929 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zuleyma most popular?
The single biggest year for Zuleyma was 1990, when 49 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zuleyma is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zuleyma in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,356 people with the name Zuleyma, or 0.45 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,993 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 Zuleyma 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 Zuleyma?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zuleyma appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,352 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Zuleyma?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zuleyma is Hispanic at 98.5%. The next largest groups are White (0.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.3%). 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 Zuleyma most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Zuleyma in the 2020 Census, accounting for 98.5% (1,335 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 Zuleyma in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zuleyma a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zuleyma 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 Zuleyma still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zuleyma 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 Zuleyma 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 Zuleyma?
See how many people share the name Zuleyma on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.