Zulay
Feminine
The Qur'an calls one story the most beautiful of stories, and it is the story of Joseph. Islamic tradition gives a name to the woman who tries to seduce him — the Bible leaves her unnamed — and that name is Zulaykha. Persian poets spent five hundred years on the two of them.
How old is the name Zulay?
Zulay first appears in US birth records in 1979 — 46 years ago. The typical Zulay alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 500 people named Zulay are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Zulay most popular?
Zulay peaked in 1979, reaching #2724 nationally. Today it ranks #11932, 9,208 places below that high. See the whole 1979 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Zulay
The Joseph story is told once in the Qur'an, in a single continuous chapter, which is unusual — the text almost never runs a narrative straight through. Persian and Turkish poets took it up as a love story rather than a morality tale, and the best-known version, written in the fifteenth century, treats Zulaykha's obsession as a stage on the way to divine love rather than as a simple fall. The name went with the story across the Islamic world and into Spain, where a long Muslim presence left a large stock of names and words behind. Spanish has around four thousand Arabic loanwords, and several women's names beginning Zul- came the same way.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Zulay is a modern name of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean and its source has not been established. The likeliest connection is with Zulaykha or Zulema, Arabic names that reached Spanish through the Muslim centuries in the peninsula. Zulaykha's own meaning is not settled either.
Pronouncing Zulay
zoo-LY
Two syllables, stress on the second, with the final y as a vowel — which is regular Spanish. English readers say ZOO-lay, front-loading it and treating the y as an English ending.
Nicknames for Zulay
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
- 1979
- Most girls named
- 201045 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2724reached in 1979
- Change vs 2024
- −41.7%7 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.
Zulay in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Zulaykha in Arabic — related form
- Zulema in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Zulays among us
people named Zulay are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 229,610 born in 2025 was named Zulay
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Derenda test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Zulay's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Derenda climbed just as high around 1956, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Derenda's path sketches the road Zulay is walking now.
Zulay 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
Zulay beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Zulay in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables and five letters, regular in Spanish spelling.
- It opens with the rarest letter in English, which makes it hard to mishear.
- Three short forms, one of which is a name in its own right.
- The stress falls at opposite ends of the word in English and Spanish.
- There is no documented meaning, only a plausible family of Arabic relatives.
- Zulay, Zuley and Sulay are all in use, so the spelling will be given.
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What they receive
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Zulay
Feminine · #11932 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Zulays are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Zulay are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Zulay in 2025?
- Zulay ranks #11932 among US girl names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Zulay?
- About 1 in every 229,610 US girls born in 2025 was named Zulay — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Zulay with classmates?
- Zulay will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Zulay
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vina#11932 · Retta#11932 · Missouri#11932 · Iola#11932 · Eddie#11932 · Thomas#11932 · Louetta#11932 · Elvina#11932
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Zulay? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Zulay and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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