Zuleika
Feminine
Potiphar's wife has no name in Genesis and none in the Quran. Zulaykha is what later Islamic commentary called her, and Persian poetry then made her the heroine of one of the great love stories of the language, turning a two-line villain into a woman transformed by love.
How old is the name Zuleika?
Zuleika first appears in US birth records in 1967 — 58 years ago. The typical Zuleika alive today was born around 1996, making them about 29 years old. About 1,200 people named Zuleika are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Zuleika most popular?
Zuleika peaked in 1993, reaching #2380 nationally. Today it ranks #6546, 4,166 places below that high. See the whole 1993 chart.
Where it comes from
From Zulaykha to Zuleika
The story of Zuleika
The story of Yusuf and Zulaykha is told in the twelfth sura of the Quran, which calls it the most beautiful of stories, and it was elaborated for centuries afterwards. The Persian poet Jami wrote a long romance of it in the fifteenth century in which Zulaykha's desire is reinterpreted as a stage on the way to divine love, and Persian and Ottoman painting returned to the subject constantly. Byron used the name in 1813, and Max Beerbohm's 1911 novel Zuleika Dobson gave it a comic English afterlife. American use is small and scattered, with its best year in 1993.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The name's own origin is not recovered. It is Arabic and Persian in transmission but its source is unclear; readings offered include brilliant and fair, and none has support. What is documented is its use: Zulaykha is the name given by Islamic exegetical tradition to the wife of the Egyptian official in the story of Yusuf, a woman the scriptural texts leave unnamed.
How the name formed
- Zulaykha
- Zuleika
Related forms: Zulaykha · Zoleikha · Zuleyha · Zuleykha
Pronouncing Zuleika
zoo-LAY-kuh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Arabic and Persian give the kh a throat-scraped sound that this spelling drops, and English speakers also say zoo-LEE-kuh.
Nicknames for Zuleika
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
- 1967
- Most girls named
- 199142 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2380reached in 1993
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%17 in 2025, from 17
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.
Zuleika in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Zulaykha in Arabic — transliteration
- Zoleikha in Persian — same name
- Zuleyha in Turkish — same name
- Zuleykha in Russian — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Zuleikas among us
people named Zuleika are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 94,545 born in 2025 was named Zuleika
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Zuleika
- #6546
- Zuleika on the 2025 chart
- #917
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Zuleika went to 17 girls in 2025, but Zuleyka is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 43, which makes it the 917th most-given girls’ name of the year — 5,629 places above the chart.
- Zuleyka26
- Zuleika17
About 1 girl in 37,378 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 94,545 for Zuleika 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 Katrin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Zuleika's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Katrin climbed just as high around 1977, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Katrin's path sketches the road Zuleika is walking now.
Zuleika 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
Zuleika beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Zuleika in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One of the great figures of Persian literature behind it.
- Zuli and Zula are two short forms with independent lives.
- The Z opening makes it immediately distinctive.
- The figure begins the story as the antagonist, which not every family wants.
- Zuleyha, Zulaykha and Zoleikha are all standard elsewhere.
- Two pronunciations circulate and the spelling does not settle between them.
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What they receive
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Zuleika
Feminine · #6546 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Zuleikas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Zuleika are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Zuleika?
- Zuleika is one of 2 recorded spellings. Zuleyka is the more common one — 26 births in 2025 against 17 for Zuleika.
- How popular is the name Zuleika in 2025?
- Zuleika ranks #6546 among US girl names in 2025, with 17 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Zuleika?
- About 1 in every 94,545 US girls born in 2025 was named Zuleika — 17 in all.
- Will my child share the name Zuleika with classmates?
- Zuleika will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Zuleika
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Roseann#6546 · Solveig#6546 · Elona#6546 · Rosette#6546 · Bradie#6546 · Rida#6546 · Gwendalyn#6546 · Lorene#6546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Zuleika? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Zuleika and another name?
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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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