Zera
Feminine · “Hebrew "seed”
Zera is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 693 girls against 10 boys since 1880.
Zera is a biblical name that means seed, and in the Hebrew Bible it belongs to men — Zerah, son of Judah, is the twin who puts out his hand first and is marked with a scarlet thread. The American female use, peaking in 1909, takes the sound and the scriptural weight without the person.
How old is the name Zera?
Zera first appears in US birth records in 1890 — 135 years ago. The typical Zera alive today was born around 1927, making them about 98 years old. About 300 people named Zera are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Zera most popular?
Zera peaked in 1909, reaching #1052 nationally. Today it ranks #7133, 6,081 places below that high. See the whole 1909 chart.
Where it comes from
From זֶרַח (Zerach) to Zera
The story of Zera
The Genesis 38 story of Tamar, Judah and the twins Perez and Zerah is one of the strangest in the Torah and one of the best remembered, which kept the name available to Bible-reading families long after most minor Genesis figures were forgotten. American use in the late nineteenth century was part of the broader Old Testament revival that also produced Zillah, Keziah and Adah. The female use is an American development — the biblical bearers are male — and the 1909 peak places it at the end of that whole cohort's run.
Meaningscholars disagree
Hebrew "seed, offspring" or "dawning, rising"
Two roots are in play and both are defensible. Zeraʿ means seed or offspring. Zarach means to rise or dawn, and the biblical Zerah's name is usually connected to that root and to the scarlet thread on his hand — a rising, a first appearance. English spellings drop the final consonant, which makes the two harder to distinguish.
How the name formed
- זֶרַחZerach
- Zerah
- Zera
Related forms: זֶרַח · Zerah
Pronouncing Zera
ZEER-uh
Two syllables, stress on the first. Hebrew gives ZEH-rakh with a guttural final consonant that the English spelling drops entirely. American speakers also say ZAIR-uh, and the spelling does not distinguish.
Nicknames for Zera
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
- 1890
- Most girls named
- 192123 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1052reached in 1909
- Change vs 2023
- +25.0%15 in 2025, from 12
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.
Zera in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- זֶרַח in Hebrew — same name
- Zerah in Hebrew — transliteration
Zeras among us
people named Zera are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 107,151 born in 2025 was named Zera
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Zera
- #7133
- Zera on the 2025 chart
- #938
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Zera went to 15 girls in 2025, but Zerah is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 22, which makes it the 938th most-given girls’ name of the year — 6,195 places above the chart.
- Zera15
- Zerah7
About 1 girl in 73,058 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 107,151 for Zera 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
Fashion outlook
Zera 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
Zera beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Zera in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is genuinely biblical with a memorable narrative attached.
- Four letters and two syllables make it very easy to carry.
- The Z opening is uncommon and gives it a hard edge.
- The biblical bearer is male.
- The meaning is split between two roots and cannot be given as one.
- The first vowel has two English readings.
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Zera
Feminine · #7133 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Zeras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Zera are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Zera?
- Zera is the most-used spelling in US records — 15 of the 22 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Zerah.
- How popular is the name Zera in 2025?
- Zera ranks #7133 among US girl names in 2025, with 15 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Zera?
- About 1 in every 107,151 US girls born in 2025 was named Zera — 15 in all.
- Will my child share the name Zera with classmates?
- Zera will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Zera
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Pennie#7133 · Zina#7133 · Elzie#7133 · Rosabel#7133 · Adelene#7133 · Cruz#7133 · Kansas#7133 · Ione#7133
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Zera? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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