Zavier
Zavier is a masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "bright" or "bright one".
Name Census estimates that about 6,747 living Americans carry the first name Zavier. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zavier today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zavier births was 2010 (310 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zavier. 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 Zavier with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Zavier is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
6.7K
~ 1 in 50,801 Americans
Peak year
2010
310 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#970
Tracked since 1968
Census
Zavier in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,852 people with the first name Zavier, which placed it at #4,005 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
#4,005
National first-name rank
People counted
4.9K
4,852 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
33.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zavier
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zavier is Black at 33.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.5%) and White (24.9%). 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 Zavier 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 Zavier at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American33.3% · 1,617
- Hispanic or Latino27.5% · 1,336
- White24.9% · 1,208
- Two or more races10.9% · 529
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 123
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 39
Gender
Gender distribution for Zavier
Out of the 6,828 babies given the name Zavier since 1880, 99.9% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Zavier as a male name
- Ranked #970 in 2024
- 232 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2010 (310 births)
Zavier as a female name
- Ranked #15,792 in 1993
- 5 female births in 1993
- Peak: 1993 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zavier leans strongly male. 4,792 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 54 female bearers (1.1%).
Popularity
Zavier: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zavier from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,634 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zavier remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zavier 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 Zavier during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zaviers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Zavier, while New Mexico, Nebraska, Oregon recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 130 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zavier
The given name Zavier has its origins in the Basque region of Spain and France. The name is derived from the ancient Basque word "etxe", which means "house" or "home". It is believed to have originated sometime during the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zavier can be found in a historical document from the Basque region, dated around 1275. This document mentions a man named Xaviero, which is believed to be an earlier spelling variation of the name.
In the 16th century, the name gained widespread recognition due to St. Francis Xavier, a Navarrese missionary and co-founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). Born in 1506 as Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta, he later adopted the name Xavier, which was the family name of his mother. St. Francis Xavier played a crucial role in spreading Christianity in Asia and is considered a patron saint of Catholic missions.
Another notable figure with the name Zavier was Zavier de Munster, a Flemish artist born in 1583. He was a prominent painter known for his religious works and portraits during the Baroque period.
In the 18th century, Zavier de Maistre, a French writer and philosopher, was born in 1763. He is best known for his work "Voyage Around My Room", a satirical travelogue that he wrote while under house arrest.
Moving into the 19th century, Zavier Merardier was a French military officer and explorer who was born in 1809. He led several expeditions to West Africa and contributed to the exploration and mapping of the region.
Throughout history, the name Zavier has been predominantly used in Spanish, French, and Portuguese-speaking regions, reflecting its Basque origins. While it has evolved through various spellings and pronunciations, the name has maintained its connection to the concept of home and family.
People
Zavier + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zavier 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
Zavier: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zavier?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,747 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zavier 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 50,801 US residents.
Is Zavier a common name?
We classify Zavier as "Rare". It ranks above 97.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,828 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zavier most popular?
The single biggest year for Zavier was 2010, when 310 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zavier is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zavier in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,852 people with the name Zavier, or 1.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,005 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 Zavier 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 Zavier?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zavier leans strongly male. 4,792 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 54 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Zavier?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zavier is Black at 33.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.5%) and White (24.9%). 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 Zavier most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zavier in the 2020 Census, accounting for 33.3% (1,617 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 Zavier in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zavier a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Zavier 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 Zavier still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zavier 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 Zavier 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 common is the name Zavier?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Zavier at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.