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Zendaya

#1,189 in 2025Girls' name

From Shona Tendai; literal meaning unconfirmed

Zendaya has been given to 3,873 babies in the U.S. since 2011. In 2025 it ranked #1,189 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2022, with 430 recorded.

Babies named Zendaya, 2025

1 in 17,000

Zendaya over time, 1880–2025

Girls
020040060018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Zendaya: meaning, origin, and history

From Shona Tendai; literal meaning unconfirmed

Shona

What Zendaya means

Zendaya is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Zendaya is used in English. Its origins include Shona.

Zendaya comes through Shona Tendai.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Zendaya is pronounced /zenˈdeɪ.ə/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,873 girls were recorded with the name Zendaya between 2011 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 430 in 2022; its best national rank was #680 in 2022.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #966 in 2020 to #1,189 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #789 in 2015 to #1,189 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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Zendaya?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 17,000
195 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 8,240
0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#1,189
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
11,785 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Zendaya 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 11,785 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Zendaya. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Zendayas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Zendaya was born before 2019 — so the typical Zendaya is around 6 today.

Median birth year
2019
About 6 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
53.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
100.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
3,873
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 53.1% of all recorded uses (2,057).

Is Zendaya 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
−246
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−223
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−400
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.54×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
45.3%
Peak was 2022 (430)
Years since peak
3
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
47.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#680
2022

Spellings of Zendaya

Zendaya is the most-used spelling, taking 58.8% of the 6,587 babies given a near-identical spelling.

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 Zendaya is used

Across 2016–2025, Zendaya was most concentrated in South Dakota — about 1 in 2,941 girls, against 1 in 5,692 across all states with data. It was least common in Kansas (1 in 25,000).

434 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1South Dakota1 in 2,941
  2. 2South Carolina1 in 3,571
  3. 3Florida1 in 3,704
  4. 4Indiana1 in 3,704
  5. 5Ohio1 in 3,704
  6. 6Georgia1 in 4,000
  7. 7New York1 in 4,348
  8. 8Pennsylvania1 in 4,348

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.

Geographically, Zendaya is somewhat regional — more concentrated than 35% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Zendaya around the world

Where Zendaya 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
    2012–2025
    #1,166
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    2022–2025
    #397
    in 2025
  • France
    2016–2025
    #1,332
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2012–2024
    #1,023
    in 2024

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Statistics Canada. ONS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Zendaya

People whose public names include Zendaya, 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.

Zendaya by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#1,189
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 223
Best rank ever
#680
2022
Peak year
2022
430 that year
First recorded
2011
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,873
Count in 2025
195

Names similar to Zendaya

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

ZenayaZenobiaZenaidaShanayaZenoviaJanayaZeniyahSamayaZeniaJamayaAndrayaSorayaSumayaTanayaZenaJalayaKamayaSanayaInaayaMalayaShamayaSarayaArayaInaya

Names with a curve like Zendaya

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

AadhyaPaisleighSaoirseBrynleighAubriellaSeraphinaKhaleesiLyannaNovaleeKarterEmilianaAdley

Sibling names for Zendaya

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 Zendaya

Top names of 2022, Zendaya's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2022Girls' names starting with Z