Zarian
A masculine name of Persian origin meaning "noble" or "splendid".
Name Census estimates that about 393 living Americans carry the first name Zarian. It is a predominantly male name (92.9% of registrations). The average person named Zarian today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zarian births was 2008 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zarian. 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
393
~ 1 in 872,148 Americans
Peak year
2008
24 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,275
Tracked since 1993
Census
Zarian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 359 people with the first name Zarian, which placed it at #26,116 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
#26,116
National first-name rank
People counted
359
359 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
56.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zarian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zarian is Black at 56.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.5%) and White (14.2%). 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 Zarian 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 Zarian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American56.5% · 203
- Hispanic or Latino14.5% · 52
- White14.2% · 51
- Two or more races10.3% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Zarian
Zarian leans heavily male at 92.9% of total registrations, but 28 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Zarian as a male name
- Ranked #8,275 in 2024
- 10 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (24 births)
Zarian as a female name
- Ranked #16,819 in 2012
- 6 female births in 2012
- Peak: 2001 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Zarian on both sides of the split. Of the 366 people counted with this name, 290 were male (79.2%) and 76 were female (20.8%).
Popularity
Zarian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zarian from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 167 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zarian 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 Zarian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zarians live
Origin
Meaning and history of Zarian
The name Zarian is believed to have its origins in the ancient Persian language, dating back to the 6th century BCE. It is derived from the Persian word "Zar," which means gold or golden, and the suffix "-ian," which denotes a person or thing associated with a particular quality or place.
During the Achaemenid Persian Empire, which ruled over a vast territory spanning from modern-day Iran to parts of Central Asia and Egypt, the name Zarian was likely used to describe individuals with a golden complexion or a radiant presence. It may have also been associated with wealth and prosperity, as gold was a highly valued commodity in ancient times.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zarian can be found in the ancient Zoroastrian religious texts known as the Avesta. In the Avestan script, the name is written as "Zairiia," which bears a striking resemblance to the modern spelling.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Zarian. One of the most prominent was Zarian of Tarsus, a 3rd-century Greek philosopher and mathematician who made significant contributions to the study of geometry and logic. His birth and death dates are uncertain, but he is believed to have lived and worked in the city of Tarsus, located in modern-day Turkey, during the Roman period.
Another historical figure with the name Zarian was Zarian the Scribe, a 9th-century Persian calligrapher and scholar who was renowned for his mastery of the Arabic script. He was born in the city of Shiraz in 812 CE and is credited with developing a distinct calligraphic style known as the "Zarian Script," which influenced generations of scribes and calligraphers in the Islamic world.
In the realm of literature, Zarian Mustafa was a 16th-century Ottoman poet and author who wrote extensively in both Turkish and Persian. Born in 1541 in the city of Edirne, his works were celebrated for their lyrical beauty and philosophical depth. He is believed to have died in 1617, leaving behind a rich literary legacy.
Moving forward in time, Zarian Sarkissian was an Armenian composer and conductor who lived from 1839 to 1892. He played a significant role in preserving and promoting Armenian music, particularly through his compositions for the Armenian Apostolic Church and his work as a choral conductor.
Finally, Zarian Khutsishvili was a 20th-century Georgian writer and playwright, born in 1908 in the city of Tbilisi. His plays and short stories explored themes of social injustice and the human condition, earning him critical acclaim and a place in the canon of Georgian literature. He passed away in 1982, leaving behind a substantial body of work.
People
Zarian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zarian 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
Zarian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zarian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 393 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zarian 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 872,148 US residents.
Is Zarian a common name?
We classify Zarian as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 397 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zarian most popular?
The single biggest year for Zarian was 2008, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zarian 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 Zarian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 359 people with the name Zarian, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,116 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 Zarian 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 Zarian?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Zarian on both sides of the split. Of the 366 people counted with this name, 290 were male (79.2%) and 76 were female (20.8%). 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 Zarian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zarian is Black at 56.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.5%) and White (14.2%). 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 Zarian most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zarian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.5% (203 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 Zarian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zarian a male name?
Yes, 92.9% of people registered as Zarian in the SSA data are male. 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 Zarian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zarian 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 Zarian 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 Zarian?
Want to know how many Americans are named Zarian? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.