Zarah
Feminine · “dawn' or 'rising light' in Hebrew”
Zarah is the spelling the King James translators chose in Genesis for the twin born to Judah and Tamar — so the extra h, which looks like a modern flourish, has been sitting in English print since the seventeenth century. In the mouth it is two clean syllables and almost impossible to mangle, and it belongs to a wide family of names — Zara, Zahra, Sara — that people across many languages already recognize.
How old is the name Zarah?
Zarah first appears in US birth records in 1968 — 57 years ago. The typical Zarah is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,900 people named Zarah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Zarah most popular?
Zarah peaked in 2022, reaching #1216 nationally. Today it ranks #1427, 211 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Zarah appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Zeraḥ to Zarah
The story of Zarah
The written trail starts in the Hebrew Bible, where Zeraḥ is the second twin of Judah and Tamar; the King James Version of 1611 spells him Zarah, and that spelling entered English through generations of Bible reading. A separate road runs from Arabic Zahrah, 'blossom', a long-established name across the Arabic-speaking world and in Persian and Urdu-speaking communities, which anglicizes easily as Zara or Zarah. A third, quieter road is domestic: Zarah as a respelling of Sarah, swapping one initial letter for a sharper sound. American use of the spelling has been continuous rather than sudden, never crowding a classroom in any decade.
Meaningscholars disagree
'dawn' or 'rising light' in Hebrew; 'blossom, radiant' in Arabic
Three serious readings meet at this spelling. Hebrew Zeraḥ, rendered Zarah in the King James Bible, is connected to rising or shining light. Arabic Zahrah means blossom or flower, with a sense of brightness, and reaches English most often as Zahra or Zara. And many English-speaking families have simply used Zarah as a variant of Sarah, from Hebrew Śārāh, 'noblewoman'. Which one applies depends on the family, not on the letters.
How the name formed
- Zeraḥ
- Zarah
Related forms: Zara · زهرة (Zahra) · Zahrah · Zeraḥ · Zaira · Sarah
Pronouncing Zarah
ZAH-rah
Two pronunciations circulate in the US: ZAH-rah, with the open first vowel, and ZAIR-uh, rhyming with the first part of 'Sarah'. The final h is silent in both. Families usually pick one and it sticks, though a new teacher each September may need telling.
Nicknames for Zarah
High
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
- 1968
- Most girls named
- 2022199 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1216reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- −7.4%151 in 2025, from 163
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.
Zarah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Zara in English — spelling variant
- زهرة (Zahra) in Arabic — related form
- Zahrah in Urdu — transliteration
- Zeraḥ in Hebrew — same name
- Zaira in Italian — related form
- Sarah in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Florida, New York.
Zarahs among us
people named Zarah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 10,644 born in 2025 was named Zarah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Zarah
- #1427
- Zarah on the 2025 chart
- #206
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Zarah went to 151 girls in 2025, but Zara and Zaara are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 1,607, which makes it the 206th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,221 places above the chart.
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 girl in 1,000 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 10,644 for Zarah 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 Aleisha test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Zarah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Aleisha climbed just as high around 1980, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Aleisha's path sketches the road Zarah is walking now.
Zarah 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 Zarah is headed
Zarah 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.
Zarah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Zarah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short, phonetic and stress-forward: most English speakers read it correctly on sight even if they have never seen it before.
- The spelling is documented in the King James Bible, so it is a traditional form rather than a recent invention.
- Sits beside Zara, Zahra and Sara, which travel easily across English, Arabic, Persian and Urdu-speaking settings.
- Has established informal short forms — Zara, Zari — that arise naturally without being imposed.
- The h at the end will go missing. Zara is by far the better-known spelling, so expect it on forms, class lists and coffee cups, and expect to correct it gently for life.
- Two pronunciations compete, ZAH-rah and ZAIR-uh, and strangers will guess. It helps to decide early which one your family uses.
- In the King James Bible, Zarah is a man. That matters little in American use, where the name is recorded for girls, but a reader of the older text may notice.
- It stays uncommon, which means the pleasure of no duplicates in a classroom and the small ongoing work of spelling it aloud.
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What they receive
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Zarah
Feminine · #1427 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Zarahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,900 people named Zarah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Zarah?
- Zarah is one of 3 recorded spellings. Zara is the more common one — 1,432 births in 2025 against 151 for Zarah.
- How popular is the name Zarah in 2025?
- Zarah ranks #1427 among US girl names in 2025, with 151 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Zarah?
- About 1 in every 10,644 US girls born in 2025 was named Zarah — 151 in all.
- Will my child share the name Zarah with classmates?
- Zarah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Zarah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Khadijah#1427 · Roslyn#1427 · Sana#1427 · Katerina#1427 · Aracely#1427 · Evalyn#1427 · Desiree#1427 · Camden#1427
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Zarah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Zarah and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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