Zayin
A Hebrew masculine name representing the seventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
Name Census estimates that about 221 living Americans carry the first name Zayin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zayin today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zayin births was 2023 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zayin. 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
221
~ 1 in 1,550,925 Americans
Peak year
2023
16 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,166
Tracked since 2001
Census
Zayin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 175 people with the first name Zayin, which placed it at #41,669 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
#41,669
National first-name rank
People counted
175
175 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
32.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zayin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zayin is Black at 32.0%. The next largest groups are White (30.3%) and Hispanic (19.4%). 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 Zayin 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 Zayin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American32.0% · 56
- White30.3% · 53
- Hispanic or Latino19.4% · 34
- Two or more races12.6% · 22
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 3
Popularity
Zayin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zayin 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 84 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zayin remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zayin 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 Zayin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zayin
The name Zayin is derived from the seventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which is also called "Zayin" (זַיִן). The letter represents the sound "z" and has a numerical value of seven. The name's origins can be traced back to ancient Hebrew language and culture.
In the Hebrew alphabet, each letter has a symbolic meaning and significance. The letter Zayin is often associated with concepts such as "sword" or "weapon," as well as "nourishment" or "sustenance." This duality reflects the letter's shape, which resembles both a sword and a crown.
Historically, the name Zayin is not commonly found as a given name, but it does appear in various Jewish texts and writings. For instance, in the Kabbalah, the esoteric teachings of Judaism, the letter Zayin is associated with the divine attribute of "Endurance" or "Perseverance."
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Zayin was Zayin ben Eliezer, a Jewish scholar who lived in the 13th century CE. He was a prominent figure in the mystical and philosophical teachings of Kabbalah.
Another notable person with the name Zayin was Zayin ben Avraham, a 16th-century Jewish poet and scholar from Safed, Palestine. He was known for his works on Jewish mysticism and his contributions to the development of the Kabbalah.
In the 17th century, Zayin ben Yisrael was a prominent rabbi and scholar in Amsterdam. He played a significant role in the Jewish community and was known for his teachings on Jewish law and ethics.
Moving forward to the 19th century, Zayin ben Shlomo was a respected rabbi and author in Poland. He wrote several influential works on Jewish theology and philosophy.
In more recent times, Zayin ben David was an Israeli writer and poet who lived in the 20th century. He was celebrated for his poetic works that explored themes of Jewish identity and spirituality.
While the name Zayin is not widely used as a given name, its roots in the Hebrew alphabet and its symbolic significance within Jewish tradition have made it a meaningful and significant name for those who bear it.
People
Zayin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zayin 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
Zayin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zayin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 221 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zayin 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 1,550,925 US residents.
Is Zayin a common name?
We classify Zayin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 223 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zayin most popular?
The single biggest year for Zayin was 2023, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zayin is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zayin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 175 people with the name Zayin, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,669 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 Zayin 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 Zayin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zayin leans strongly male. 152 people counted with this name were male (81.7%), compared with 34 female bearers (18.3%). 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 Zayin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zayin is Black at 32.0%. The next largest groups are White (30.3%) and Hispanic (19.4%). 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 Zayin most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zayin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 32.0% (56 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 Zayin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zayin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zayin 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 Zayin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zayin 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 Zayin 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 have the name Zayin?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Zayin, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.