Zayah
A feminine name with Arabic origins meaning "splendid" or "brilliant".
Name Census estimates that about 809 living Americans carry the first name Zayah. It is a predominantly female name (96.8% of registrations). The average person named Zayah today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zayah births was 2021 (70 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zayah. 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 Zayah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
809
~ 1 in 423,677 Americans
Peak year
2021
70 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2023 SSA rank
#2,844
Tracked since 2001
Census
Zayah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 484 people with the first name Zayah, which placed it at #21,098 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
#21,098
National first-name rank
People counted
484
484 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
44.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zayah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zayah is Black at 44.8%. The next largest groups are White (21.1%) and Hispanic (20.7%). 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 Zayah 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 Zayah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American44.8% · 217
- White21.1% · 102
- Hispanic or Latino20.7% · 100
- Two or more races9.9% · 48
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Zayah
Zayah leans heavily female at 96.8% of total registrations, but 26 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Zayah as a male name
- Ranked #14,170 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2010 (6 births)
Zayah as a female name
- Ranked #2,844 in 2024
- 59 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (65 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zayah leans strongly female. 431 people counted with this name were female (89.6%), compared with 50 male bearers (10.4%).
Popularity
Zayah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zayah 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 443 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zayah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zayah 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 Zayah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zayahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Zayah, while Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zayah
The name Zayah is a unique and intriguing one, with its origins shrouded in mystery and speculation. Some scholars believe it to be derived from the Arabic word "zayyah," which translates to "bright" or "shining." This would suggest that the name may have its roots in the rich cultural tapestry of the Middle East, where names often carry significant symbolic meanings.
Others trace the name's lineage to the Sanskrit language, with a potential connection to the word "zaya," meaning "offspring" or "progeny." If this theory holds true, it could indicate a historical link to the ancient civilizations of the Indian subcontinent, where naming traditions were deeply intertwined with spiritual and philosophical beliefs.
Delving into the annals of history, the earliest recorded instances of the name Zayah are found in ancient texts and manuscripts from the 6th century CE. One such reference appears in the "Kitab al-Buldan," a geographical compendium written by the renowned scholar Al-Yaqubi, who mentions a town called "Zayah" located in present-day Iraq.
As we traverse the centuries, we encounter several notable figures who bore the name Zayah. One such individual was Zayah al-Nahrawani, a celebrated poet and scholar who lived in Baghdad during the 9th century CE, renowned for his contributions to Arabic literature and philosophy.
In the 12th century, we find Zayah ibn Abi al-Rijal, a respected jurist and legal scholar from Cordoba, Spain, who played a pivotal role in the development of Islamic jurisprudence during the Almohad Caliphate.
Moving forward in time, the 14th century witnessed the rise of Zayah al-Din Nakhshabi, a revered Sufi mystic and spiritual teacher from Bukhara, in present-day Uzbekistan, whose teachings and writings had a profound impact on the region's spiritual landscape.
In the realm of art and culture, we encounter Zayah Bint Ismail, a renowned calligrapher and illuminator who lived in the 16th century Ottoman Empire, renowned for her exquisite works that adorned manuscripts and religious texts.
Finally, in the 18th century, we find Zayah Khan, a prominent military leader and statesman from the Mughal Empire, who played a crucial role in the expansion and consolidation of the empire's territories in South Asia.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals who have borne the name Zayah throughout history, each leaving an indelible mark on their respective fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of human civilization.
People
Zayah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zayah 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
Zayah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zayah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 809 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zayah 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 423,677 US residents.
Is Zayah a common name?
We classify Zayah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 815 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zayah most popular?
The single biggest year for Zayah was 2021, when 70 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zayah is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zayah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 484 people with the name Zayah, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,098 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 Zayah 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 Zayah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zayah leans strongly female. 431 people counted with this name were female (89.6%), compared with 50 male bearers (10.4%). 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 Zayah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zayah is Black at 44.8%. The next largest groups are White (21.1%) and Hispanic (20.7%). 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 Zayah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zayah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.8% (217 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 Zayah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zayah a female name?
Yes, 96.8% of people registered as Zayah 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 Zayah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zayah 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 Zayah 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 Zayah?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Zayah at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.