Zakia
Feminine · “Arabic zakiyya”
Zakia is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 1,724 girls against 16 boys since 1880.
The Arabic root z-k-w covers three things at once: growth, purity and the alms tax. Zakat, the third pillar of Islam, is built on it, and the connection is deliberate: giving a portion away is what purifies the rest and makes it grow.
How old is the name Zakia?
Zakia first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Zakia alive today was born around 1996, making them about 29 years old. About 1,700 people named Zakia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Zakia most popular?
Zakia peaked in 1975, reaching #1269 nationally. Today it ranks #9457, 8,188 places below that high. See the whole 1975 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From zaki to Zakia
The story of Zakia
Zakat is the third of the five pillars, an obligation to give a fixed share of accumulated wealth, conventionally a fortieth of savings held for a year, to specified categories of recipient. The word does not mean charity, which is sadaqa and voluntary; it names a due. Its root sense makes the argument: z-k-w is growth and purity together, and the classical position is that wealth is purified by the portion given away and increased rather than diminished by it. The same root gives tazkiyah, the purification of the soul, a central term in Islamic spirituality. So the name Zakia sits on a word that a Muslim reader hears three ways at once, and the three senses are not a coincidence of sound but a single idea worked out in law and in ethics.
Meaning
Arabic zakiyya, pure or virtuous
Zakia is a transliteration of Arabic zakiyya, the feminine of zaki, meaning pure, virtuous or growing well, from the root z-k-w. The same root gives zakat, the obligatory alms of Islam, whose sense combines purification and increase. The name is used across the Arabic-speaking world and in Muslim communities beyond it. The American peak is 1975.
How the name formed
- zaki
- zakiyya
- Zakia
Related forms: Zakiyya · Zakia · Zakia
Pronouncing Zakia
zah-KEE-ah
Three syllables, stress on the second. Zakia and Zakiyya are the same name in two transliterations, the second showing the doubled y of the Arabic.
Nicknames for Zakia
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
- 1971
- Most girls named
- 197588 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1269reached in 1975
- Change vs 2024
- +11.1%10 in 2025, from 9
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.
Zakia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Zakiyya in Arabic — same name
- Zakia in Urdu — same name
- Zakia in Swahili — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Washington.
Zakias among us
people named Zakia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 160,727 born in 2025 was named Zakia
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Zakia
- #9457
- Zakia on the 2025 chart
- #866
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Zakia went to 10 girls in 2025, but Zakiyah, Zakiya and Zakiah are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 94, which makes it the 866th most-given girls’ name of the year — 8,591 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 17,099 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 160,727 for Zakia itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Virgina test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Zakia's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Virgina climbed just as high around 1922, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Virgina's path sketches the road Zakia is walking now.
Zakia sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Zakia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Zakia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Kia and Zak are both usable short forms.
- The meaning is clear and carries real weight.
- The z opening is distinctive in English.
- Several transliterations compete.
- It is easily confused with Zakiya and Zakiah.
- The 1975 peak dates it to a narrow window.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Zakia
Feminine · #9457 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Zakias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Zakia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Zakia?
- Zakia is one of 4 recorded spellings. Zakiyah is the more common one — 40 births in 2025 against 10 for Zakia.
- How popular is the name Zakia in 2025?
- Zakia ranks #9457 among US girl names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Zakia?
- About 1 in every 160,727 US girls born in 2025 was named Zakia — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Zakia with classmates?
- Zakia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Zakia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Leta#9457 · Inga#9457 · Delphia#9457 · Cammie#9457 · Lisandra#9457 · Amee#9457 · Venecia#9457 · Annetta#9457
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Zakia? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Zakia and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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