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Zahara

#1,289 in 2025Girls' name

Feminine form of Zohar

Zahara has been given to 3,609 babies in the U.S. since 1986. In 2025 it ranked #1,289 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2021, with 202 recorded.

Babies named Zahara, 2025

1 in 19,100

Zahara over time, 1880–2025

Girls
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Zahara: meaning, origin, and history

Feminine form of Zohar

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Zahara means

Zahara is a feminine form of Zohar.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Zahara → Zohar. The family’s meaning is “light, brilliance”, recorded in the naming reference for Zohar.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Zohar.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,609 girls were recorded with the name Zahara between 1986 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 202 in 2021; its best national rank was #1,197 in 2021.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #1,352 in 2020 to #1,289 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,424 in 2015 to #1,289 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Zahara?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 19,100
174 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 9,240
0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#1,289
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
13,207 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Zahara sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5003%

Put another way: gather 13,207 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Zahara. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Zaharas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Zahara was born before 2015 — so the typical Zahara is around 10 today.

Median birth year
2015
About 10 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
42.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
95.5%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
3,609
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 42.6% of all recorded uses (1,538).

Is Zahara rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−83
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+63
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+135
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.07×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
86.1%
Peak was 2021 (202)
Years since peak
4
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
14.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,197
2021

Spellings of Zahara

Zahara is not the most common spelling — Tamara is, with 43.6% against Zahara's 1.2%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Zahara is used

Across 2016–2025, Zahara was most concentrated in Maryland — about 1 in 4,348 girls, against 1 in 9,360 across all states with data. It was least common in Tennessee (1 in 50,000).

223 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Maryland1 in 4,348
  2. 2District of Columbia1 in 4,762
  3. 3Georgia1 in 4,762
  4. 4New York1 in 5,263
  5. 5Florida1 in 5,882
  6. 6Ohio1 in 6,667
  7. 7Pennsylvania1 in 6,667
  8. 8Virginia1 in 6,667

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Zahara around the world

Where Zahara ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1999–2025
    #1,639
    in 2025
  • France
    1981–2025
    #3,227
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2005–2024
    #2,256
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1994–2013
    #818
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Zahara

People whose public names include Zahara, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Zahara by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#1,289
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 63
Best rank ever
#1,197
2021
Peak year
2021
202 that year
First recorded
1986
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,609
Count in 2025
174

Names similar to Zahara

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

ZahiraZahraaZahriaZahavaSaharaZahraChiaraAdharaKamaraKeyaraAinaraKyaraKeiaraKataraTakaraKlaraZahrahAdaraSharaInaraZahariAlaraDamaraSiara

Names with a curve like Zahara

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Zahara, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

AnayahKamoraAmeeraAnylaNaylaAlessaCooperZainaPrishaAnaiahKeilyZia

Sibling names for Zahara

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Zahara

Top names of 2021, Zahara's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2021Girls' names starting with Z