Zahra
A feminine Arabic name meaning "radiant", "brilliant", or "flower".
Name Census estimates that about 8,717 living Americans carry the first name Zahra. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zahra today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zahra births was 2024 (556 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zahra. 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 Zahra with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Zahra is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
8.7K
~ 1 in 39,320 Americans
Peak year
2024
556 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#543
Tracked since 1973
Census
Zahra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,597 people with the first name Zahra, which placed it at #2,247 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
#2,247
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
11,597 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zahra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zahra is White at 42.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.8%) and Black (17.1%). 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 Zahra 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 Zahra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.7% · 4,949
- Asian and Pacific Islander25.8% · 2,990
- Black or African American17.1% · 1,987
- Two or more races10.7% · 1,244
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 409
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 18
Popularity
Zahra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zahra from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 3,645 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zahra remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zahra 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 Zahra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zahras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Zahra, while Nevada, Delaware, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 204 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zahra
The name Zahra has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, tracing back to the 7th century CE. It is derived from the Arabic word "zahra," meaning "flower" or "blossom," symbolizing beauty, purity, and radiance.
In Islamic tradition, Zahra holds a significant place as it was the honorific title bestowed upon Fatimah al-Zahra, the beloved daughter of Prophet Muhammad. She is revered by Muslims as an embodiment of virtue, knowledge, and spiritual enlightenment.
The earliest recorded use of the name Zahra can be found in various Islamic texts and historical records from the 7th century onwards, including the Quran, Hadith (sayings of Prophet Muhammad), and biographical accounts of the Prophet's family.
One of the most notable historical figures bearing the name Zahra was Fatimah al-Zahra herself (615-632 CE), the daughter of Prophet Muhammad and his first wife, Khadijah. She is regarded as a role model for Muslim women and is highly respected for her piety, wisdom, and unwavering dedication to her faith.
Another prominent figure was Zahra Khatun (1554-1600), the wife of Akbar, the third Mughal Emperor of India. She played a significant role in promoting education and cultural activities during the Mughal period.
In the 9th century, Zahra al-Khazrajiyya (d. 850 CE) was a renowned Muslim poet and scholar from Medina, known for her contributions to Arabic literature and her expertise in Islamic jurisprudence.
During the Abbasid Caliphate, Zahra al-Andalusiyya (d. 1030 CE) was a celebrated Andalusian poet and scholar who gained recognition for her literary works and her mastery of various subjects, including theology, philosophy, and astronomy.
In more recent history, Zahra Rahnavard (born 1945) is an Iranian scholar, artist, and political activist who served as the first female Chancellor of Al-Zahra University in Tehran and played a prominent role in the Iranian reform movement.
These are just a few examples of notable figures throughout history who bore the name Zahra, each leaving an indelible mark in their respective fields and contributing to the rich cultural tapestry of the societies they lived in.
People
Zahra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zahra 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
Zahra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zahra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,717 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zahra 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 39,320 US residents.
Is Zahra a common name?
We classify Zahra as "Rare". It ranks above 97.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,831 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zahra most popular?
The single biggest year for Zahra was 2024, when 556 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zahra is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zahra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,597 people with the name Zahra, or 3.84 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,247 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 Zahra 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 Zahra?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zahra appears almost entirely female. Of the 11,597 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Zahra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zahra is White at 42.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.8%) and Black (17.1%). 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 Zahra most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Zahra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.7% (4,949 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 Zahra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zahra a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zahra 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 Zahra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zahra 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 Zahra 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 Zahra?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.