Zakiya
Feminine · “pure”
Zakiya is the Arabic word for pure, and the root behind it is about growth — something zaki is both clean and thriving.
How old is the name Zakiya?
Zakiya first appears in US birth records in 1972 — 53 years ago. The typical Zakiya alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 3,300 people named Zakiya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Zakiya most popular?
Zakiya peaked in 1997, reaching #1334 nationally. Today it ranks #4172, 2,838 places below that high. See the whole 1997 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From zakiyy to Zakiya
The story of Zakiya
The root z-k-w links purity and growth in a way Arabic treats as one idea: zakat, the alms every Muslim owes, is named from it because the giving both purifies the remainder and causes it to increase. Zakiya is the feminine adjective. It is used across the Arab world and in Swahili-speaking East Africa, and reaches American records with African-American Muslim families in particular.
Meaning
pure, virtuous
From an Arabic root meaning to grow or to be pure; zakat, the obligatory almsgiving, comes from the same root, on the reasoning that giving purifies and increases wealth at once.
How the name formed
- zakiyy
- Zakiya
Related forms: Zakiyyah · Zakia · Zakiya
Pronouncing Zakiya
zah-KEE-yah
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. There is little variation.
Nicknames for Zakiya
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
- 1972
- Most girls named
- 1997129 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1334reached in 1997
- Change vs 2024
- −12.8%34 in 2025, from 39
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.
Zakiya in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Zakiyyah in Arabic — spelling variant
- Zakia in Swahili — same name
- Zakiya in Urdu — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Georgia, Florida.
Zakiyas among us
people named Zakiya are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 47,273 born in 2025 was named Zakiya
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Zakiya
- #4172
- Zakiya on the 2025 chart
- #866
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Zakiya went to 34 girls in 2025, but Zakiyah, Zakia 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 — 3,306 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 17,099 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 47,273 for Zakiya 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 Timi test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Zakiya's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Timi climbed just as high around 1964, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Timi's path sketches the road Zakiya is walking now.
Zakiya 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
Where Zakiya is headed
Zakiya should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Zakiya beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Zakiya in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning with a genuinely interesting link between purity and growth.
- Kiya is a complete short form in current use.
- Recognized across the Arab world and East Africa.
- Zakiyyah is the fuller transliteration and marks a doubled consonant.
- Zakiya, Zakia and Zakiyah are all in use and none is dominant in English.
- It is close to Zakia and Zahra in an English ear.
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What they receive
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Zakiya
Feminine · #4172 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Zakiyas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,300 people named Zakiya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Zakiya?
- Zakiya is one of 4 recorded spellings. Zakiyah is the more common one — 40 births in 2025 against 34 for Zakiya.
- How popular is the name Zakiya in 2025?
- Zakiya ranks #4172 among US girl names in 2025, with 34 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Zakiya?
- About 1 in every 47,273 US girls born in 2025 was named Zakiya — 34 in all.
- Will my child share the name Zakiya with classmates?
- Zakiya will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Zakiya
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Roseanna#4172 · Elida#4172 · Neila#4172 · Savina#4172 · Kendyl#4172 · Naisha#4172 · Brecken#4172 · Ethel#4172
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Zakiya? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Zakiya and another name?
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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