Zamiya
Of Arabic origin, meaning "companion", "friend", or "one who accompanies".
Name Census estimates that about 713 living Americans carry the first name Zamiya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zamiya today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zamiya births was 2012 (54 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zamiya. 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 Zamiya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
713
~ 1 in 480,721 Americans
Peak year
2012
54 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,134
Tracked since 2000
Census
Zamiya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 477 people with the first name Zamiya, which placed it at #21,336 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
#21,336
National first-name rank
People counted
477
477 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
88.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zamiya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zamiya is Black at 88.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.8%) and Hispanic (4.0%). 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 Zamiya 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 Zamiya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American88.7% · 423
- Two or more races4.8% · 23
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 19
- White1.5% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Zamiya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zamiya from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 362 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zamiya 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 Zamiya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zamiyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. North Carolina, Texas, Georgia recorded the most babies named Zamiya, while Michigan, Virginia, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 15 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zamiya
The name Zamiya is believed to have originated in the Middle East, derived from the Arabic word "zamiya," which means "companion" or "friend." The earliest records of this name date back to the 8th century CE, during the Islamic Golden Age.
In ancient Arabic literature, Zamiya was sometimes used as a poetic term to describe a close confidant or a beloved companion. This usage can be found in some of the works of renowned poets and scholars from that era, such as Abu Nuwas and Al-Mutanabbi.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Zamiya was Zamiya ibn Amir al-Bahili, a prominent poet and philosopher who lived in the 9th century CE in present-day Iraq. His works were widely celebrated for their eloquence and depth, and he was known for his contributions to the field of Arabic literature.
Another notable figure was Zamiya al-Ishbili, a renowned mathematician and astronomer from 12th century Seville, Spain. She was highly respected for her groundbreaking work in trigonometry and her contributions to the study of celestial movements.
In the 13th century, Zamiya ibn Abdallah al-Qurtubi was a renowned Islamic scholar and jurist from Cordoba, Spain. His writings on Islamic jurisprudence and theology were widely influential during his time and continue to be studied by scholars today.
During the Ottoman Empire, Zamiya Hatun was a powerful and influential woman who lived in the 16th century. She was a prominent figure in the imperial court and is known for her philanthropic efforts, supporting the construction of mosques, schools, and other important institutions.
Zamiya al-Ansari, born in 1845 in present-day Lebanon, was a pioneering educator and women's rights activist. She founded several schools for girls and worked tirelessly to promote education and empower women in the region, leaving a lasting impact on the society of her time.
People
Zamiya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zamiya 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
Zamiya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zamiya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 713 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zamiya 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 480,721 US residents.
Is Zamiya a common name?
We classify Zamiya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 720 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zamiya most popular?
The single biggest year for Zamiya was 2012, when 54 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zamiya 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 Zamiya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 477 people with the name Zamiya, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,336 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 Zamiya 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 Zamiya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zamiya appears almost entirely female. Of the 473 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 Zamiya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zamiya is Black at 88.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.8%) and Hispanic (4.0%). 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 Zamiya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zamiya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.7% (423 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 Zamiya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zamiya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zamiya 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 Zamiya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zamiya 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 Zamiya 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 share the name Zamiya?
Want to know how many people share the name Zamiya? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.