Zaria
A feminine given name of Arabic origin meaning "flower" or "blooming".
Name Census estimates that about 10,856 living Americans carry the first name Zaria. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zaria today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zaria births was 2000 (568 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zaria. 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 Zaria with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Zaria is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 31,573 Americans
Peak year
2000
568 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#825
Tracked since 1982
Census
Zaria in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,021 people with the first name Zaria, which placed it at #2,870 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
#2,870
National first-name rank
People counted
8.0K
8,021 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
77.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zaria
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zaria is Black at 77.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.9%) and Two or More Races (6.7%). 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 Zaria 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 Zaria at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American77.2% · 6,192
- Hispanic or Latino7.9% · 631
- Two or more races6.7% · 538
- White6.3% · 503
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 122
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 35
Popularity
Zaria: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zaria from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 4,326 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Zaria remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zaria 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 Zaria during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zarias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. Florida, Georgia, Texas recorded the most babies named Zaria, while Nebraska, Iowa, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 274 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zaria
The name Zaria is believed to have originated from the Russian language. Its roots can be traced back to the Old Slavic word "zaria," which means "dawn" or "sunrise." The name was likely first used in regions where Slavic languages were spoken, such as parts of Eastern Europe and Russia.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zaria can be found in Russian folklore and literature from the 16th century. It was often used as a symbolic representation of a new beginning or a fresh start, reflecting the meaning of its Slavic origins.
In the late 18th century, a famous Russian poet named Gavrila Derzhavin wrote a poem titled "Zaria," which celebrated the beauty of the morning light. This literary work further popularized the name and cemented its association with the dawn and the start of a new day.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Zaria. One of the earliest was Zaria Zhdanova (1900-1972), a Russian writer and journalist who documented life in the Soviet Union during the early 20th century. Another prominent figure was Zaria Plisetskaya (1925-2015), a renowned Russian prima ballerina who captivated audiences with her grace and artistry.
Moving beyond Russia, the name Zaria has also been used in other parts of the world. In the 19th century, Zaria Nani (1825-1892) was an Italian artist and sculptor known for her intricate marble works. Across the Atlantic, Zaria Forman (born 1982) is a contemporary American artist whose large-scale pastel drawings capture the beauty of glaciers and icebergs.
One of the most significant figures with the name Zaria was Zaria Shakir (1916-2008), an influential Egyptian feminist and political activist. She played a pivotal role in advocating for women's rights and social justice in Egypt throughout the 20th century.
While the name Zaria has its roots in the Slavic languages, it has transcended cultural boundaries and taken on various meanings and associations across different regions and time periods. From symbolizing the dawn to representing artistic expression and social change, the name Zaria has left an indelible mark on history.
People
Zaria + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zaria 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
Zaria: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zaria?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,856 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zaria 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 31,573 US residents.
Is Zaria a common name?
We classify Zaria as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11,001 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zaria most popular?
The single biggest year for Zaria was 2000, when 568 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zaria is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zaria in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,021 people with the name Zaria, or 2.66 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,870 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 Zaria 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 Zaria?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zaria appears almost entirely female. Of the 8,017 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Zaria?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zaria is Black at 77.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.9%) and Two or More Races (6.7%). 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 Zaria most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zaria in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.2% (6,192 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 Zaria in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zaria a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zaria 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 Zaria still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zaria 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 Zaria 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 named Zaria?
Find out how many Americans are named Zaria on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.