Zhane
Of Scottish Gaelic origin meaning "brown-haired one".
Name Census estimates that about 2,287 living Americans carry the first name Zhane. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Zhane today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zhane births was 1994 (391 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zhane. 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 Zhane with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 149,871 Americans
Peak year
1994
391 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2023 SSA rank
#6,883
Tracked since 1993
Census
Zhane in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,704 people with the first name Zhane, which placed it at #8,503 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
#8,503
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,704 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
75.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zhane
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zhane is Black at 75.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.2%) and White (8.2%). 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 Zhane 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 Zhane at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American75.8% · 1,292
- Hispanic or Latino8.2% · 140
- White8.2% · 139
- Two or more races6.4% · 109
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for Zhane
Zhane leans heavily female at 83.1% of total registrations, but 395 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Zhane as a male name
- Ranked #6,883 in 2023
- 13 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2008 (22 births)
Zhane as a female name
- Ranked #13,410 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1994 (391 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zhane leans strongly female. 1,413 people counted with this name were female (82.9%), compared with 291 male bearers (17.1%).
Popularity
Zhane: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zhane from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 1,310 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zhane 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 Zhane during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zhanes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 21 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, California recorded the most babies named Zhane, while Wisconsin, Indiana, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 56 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zhane
The name Zhane has its roots in the Persian language and culture, dating back to the 6th century CE. It is derived from the old Persian word "zhane," which means "life" or "soul." The name was popular among the Zoroastrian community in ancient Persia, now modern-day Iran and surrounding regions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zhane can be found in the Zoroastrian religious text, the Avesta, where it is mentioned as the name of a minor deity associated with the concept of life and vitality. The name also appeared in several Persian poems and literature from the medieval period, often used as a symbolic representation of beauty and grace.
During the Sassanid Empire (224-651 CE), the name Zhane gained popularity among the nobility and aristocracy. One notable figure from this era was Zhane Khosrow, a renowned Persian philosopher and scholar who lived in the 6th century CE. His writings on ethics, metaphysics, and the nature of the soul were highly influential in the region.
As the Islamic conquests spread across Persia in the 7th century, the name Zhane became less common, although it continued to be used within certain communities. In the 10th century, a famous Persian poet named Zhane Ganjavi was born in the city of Ganja, modern-day Azerbaijan. His works, particularly his epic poem "Khosrow and Shirin," were widely celebrated and contributed to the preservation of the name's legacy.
During the Safavid Dynasty (1501-1736 CE), the name experienced a resurgence in popularity among the Persian elite. One notable figure from this period was Zhane Bahar, a renowned calligrapher and artist who was born in Shiraz in 1548 CE. Her intricate calligraphic works adorned many mosques and palaces throughout Persia and are still revered today.
In more recent times, the name Zhane has been popularized in various forms across different cultures and languages. In the 20th century, notable figures with the name include Zhane Kasraian, an Iranian-American actress born in 1942, and Zhane Ghahremani, an Iranian-Swedish author and activist born in 1958.
While the name Zhane has its roots in ancient Persia, it has transcended cultural boundaries and continues to be used in various forms and spellings around the world, carrying with it a rich history and symbolism of life, beauty, and the human spirit.
People
Zhane + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zhane 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
Zhane: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zhane?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,287 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zhane 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 149,871 US residents.
Is Zhane a common name?
We classify Zhane as "Rare". It ranks above 94.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,338 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zhane most popular?
The single biggest year for Zhane was 1994, when 391 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zhane is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zhane in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,704 people with the name Zhane, or 0.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,503 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 Zhane 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 Zhane?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zhane leans strongly female. 1,413 people counted with this name were female (82.9%), compared with 291 male bearers (17.1%). 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 Zhane?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zhane is Black at 75.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.2%) and White (8.2%). 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 Zhane most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zhane in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.8% (1,292 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 Zhane in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zhane a female name?
Yes, 83.1% of people registered as Zhane 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 Zhane still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zhane 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 Zhane 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 Zhane?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.