Zahra: Meaning of Baby Name Zahra

About the Name Zahra

Zahra descends from the Arabic Zahrah meaning "flower," "blossom," or "the radiant one." The name has additional Islamic anchoring through the iconic Fatima al-Zahra ("Fatima the Radiant"), the iconic daughter of the Prophet Muhammad and one of the most-revered female figures in Shia Islamic tradition. The Swahili form is also Zahra.

Notable bearers include American basketball player Zahra Lari (born 1995, the iconic Emirati figure skater who became the first competitive figure skater to wear the hijab in international competition); contemporary Iranian-American writer Zahra Hankir; the iconic American activist Zahra Rahnavard; and the contemporary fictional Zahra of various contemporary novels.

Zahra's American climb has been substantial: the name climbed from outside the US top 1000 in 1995 to the US top 300 girls' rank by 2018 and the top 300 since. The name has been driven primarily by Muslim-American immigration. The name's appeal sits in three contemporary American naming preferences: the layered Arabic-Swahili-Islamic-religious pedigree, the in-built distinctive flower/radiant etymological register, and the popular two-syllable -hra ending. Two firm syllables, soft consonants, and tonal warmth distinctive to Arabic-derived naming. The name reads as both classical-Islamic and contemporary American. Common nicknames Zara (back-end shortening, a popular standalone name on its own — see separate entry), Zahi, and the rare Hara each carry distinct registers; the alternate spellings Zahra, Zahrah, and Zara have their own SSA tracking. International forms include Zahrah (Arabic original), Zahra (essentially identical across Arabic/Swahili/Persian), and the original Arabic Zahrah.

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.

Quick Facts About Zahra

535

African baby names in our dictionary

265

African female names

48

5-letter Z-names in our dictionary

121

Z-female names total

2012–2025

years of US SSA records (14 total)

6,237

total US births named Zahra (all years)

US Popularity History (2012–2025)

🔥 Rising fast: Zahra climbed 52 places in the US girls ranking over the last 5 years (#592 in 2020 → #540 in 2025).

Annual US births named Zahra by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2025 with 562 girls named Zahra (girl rank #540 that year).

Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.

Where in the US Is Zahra Most Popular?

Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Zahra the strongest states are Maryland, New York, New Jersey.

Strongest girls-name states

#	State	Avg rank	Births
1	Maryland	#329	170
2	New York	#374	456
3	New Jersey	#397	201
4	Virginia	#422	195
5	Nebraska	#434	17
6	Connecticut	#451	68
7	Massachusetts	#454	122
8	Illinois	#486	213
9	Minnesota	#491	83
10	Michigan	#512	165

Weakest girls-name states

#	State	Avg rank	Births
1	Indiana	#924	43
2	Wisconsin	#817	25
3	Missouri	#814	30
4	Arizona	#798	70
5	Louisiana	#781	41
6	Ohio	#749	126
7	North Carolina	#744	96
8	Colorado	#708	24
9	Tennessee	#685	33
10	Oregon	#682	17

Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Zahra in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.

Variant Forms

Name	Meaning	Gender	Origin
Zahara	Swahili And Muslim Name Meaning "Flower."	Female	African
Zara	Princess	Female	Arabic

Looking for names like Zahra?

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Compare Zahra to Other Popular Names

Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Zahra against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).

Zahra vs Olivia 210,124 births since 2014

Zahra vs Emma 202,477 births since 2014

Zahra vs Sophia 169,709 births since 2014

Zahra vs Isabella 158,431 births since 2014

Zahra vs Ava 157,356 births since 2014

Zahra vs Charlotte 151,872 births since 2014

Zahra vs Mia 149,779 births since 2014

Zahra vs Amelia 142,728 births since 2014

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