Zira
Of Arabic origin meaning "bright" or "shining".
Name Census estimates that about 166 living Americans carry the first name Zira. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zira today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zira births was 2023 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zira. 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 Zira with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
166
~ 1 in 2,064,785 Americans
Peak year
2023
22 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,915
Tracked since 1974
Census
Zira in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 174 people with the first name Zira, which placed it at #41,801 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
#41,801
National first-name rank
People counted
174
174 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
34.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zira
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zira is Black at 34.5%. The next largest groups are White (28.2%) and Hispanic (25.9%). 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 Zira 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 Zira at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American34.5% · 60
- White28.2% · 49
- Hispanic or Latino25.9% · 45
- Two or more races7.5% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 7
Popularity
Zira: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zira from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 77 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zira 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 Zira 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 Zira
The name Zira originates from the Persian language, where it is derived from the word "zir," meaning "gold" or "golden." The name has been in use since ancient times in the Persian cultural sphere, which encompassed modern-day Iran, Afghanistan, and parts of Central Asia.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zira can be found in the ancient Persian epic, the Shahnameh, written by the renowned poet Ferdowsi in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. In this epic, Zira is mentioned as the name of a brave warrior and military commander.
Throughout history, the name Zira has been associated with strength, courage, and resilience. In the 13th century, a prominent Persian philosopher and mystic named Zira al-Din Razi gained widespread recognition for his contributions to the fields of philosophy, medicine, and alchemy.
In the 16th century, a Persian noblewoman named Zira Begum played a significant role in the court of the Mughal Empire, serving as a trusted advisor and confidante to the emperor Akbar the Great. Her influence and wisdom were highly regarded during her time.
Another notable figure bearing the name Zira was Zira Yazdgerdi, a 17th-century Persian poet and scholar who gained acclaim for her mastery of the Persian language and her contributions to the literary tradition of her time.
In more recent history, Zira Hosseini was a prominent Iranian women's rights activist and writer who fought for gender equality and social justice in the early 20th century. Her writings and advocacy played a crucial role in shaping the feminist movement in Iran.
While the name Zira has its roots in the Persian culture, it has also been adopted and used in various other cultures and regions throughout history, reflecting its enduring appeal and the cross-cultural exchange of names.
People
Zira + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zira 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
Zira: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zira?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 166 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zira 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 2,064,785 US residents.
Is Zira a common name?
We classify Zira as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 168 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zira most popular?
The single biggest year for Zira was 2023, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zira 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 Zira in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 174 people with the name Zira, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,801 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 Zira 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 Zira?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zira leans strongly female. 176 people counted with this name were female (95.7%), compared with 8 male bearers (4.3%). 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 Zira?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zira is Black at 34.5%. The next largest groups are White (28.2%) and Hispanic (25.9%). 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 Zira most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zira in the 2020 Census, accounting for 34.5% (60 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 Zira in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zira a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zira 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 Zira still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zira 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 Zira 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 Zira as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.