Nadirah
Feminine · “Rare”
Nadirah is an Arabic word meaning rare or precious, and it is not the word that gave English the astronomical term nadir — those are two different Arabic words that English cannot tell apart.
How old is the name Nadirah?
Nadirah first appears in US birth records in 1976 — 49 years ago. The typical Nadirah alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 900 people named Nadirah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nadirah most popular?
Nadirah peaked in 1978, reaching #2741 nationally. See the whole 1978 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Nadira to Nadirah
The story of Nadirah
Arabic has consonants that English collapses. The letter in the astronomical term is emphatic, made further back in the mouth with the tongue braced, and it is a completely different letter from the plain one in this name — but both arrive in English as a d, so two unrelated words become homonyms as soon as they are written in the Latin alphabet. That is how European languages received most of their Arabic vocabulary: through transliteration systems that discard the distinctions the source language cares about most. Algebra, alchemy, admiral, average, zenith and nadir all came through the same filter, and several of them are now impossible to trace back without going to the original script.
Meaning
Rare, precious, uncommon
The Arabic adjective means rare in the sense of precious — a thing not often found. The English word nadir, meaning the lowest point, comes from a different Arabic word entirely, about the direction opposite the zenith. They differ in Arabic by a letter English has no equivalent for.
How the name formed
- Nadira
- Nadirah
Related forms: نادرة · Nadira · Nadire
Pronouncing Nadirah
nah-DEER-uh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The final h is silent and stands for a letter Arabic writes.
Nicknames for Nadirah
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1976
- Most girls named
- 199133 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2741reached in 1978
- Change vs 2023
- +60.0%8 in 2024, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Nadirah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- نادرة in Arabic — same name
- Nadira in Urdu — same name
- Nadire in Turkish — same name
Nadirahs among us
people named Nadirah are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Nadirah sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled, unusual and entirely positive.
- It is understood across the Arabic-speaking world and much of Asia.
- Every sound in it is available in English.
- Nadira and Nadirah are both standard and hers will be written as either.
- The English word nadir is a false friend and will be offered as an origin.
- American speakers sometimes move the stress to the front.
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Nadirah
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Nadirahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Nadirah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nadirah in 2025?
- Nadirah is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Nadirah with classmates?
- Nadirah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More N names
The most-given names starting with N, all years combined.
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Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nadirah? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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