Zuleyka
Feminine
Zuleyka belongs to one of the great love stories of the Islamic world. In the Qur'an the wife of the Egyptian official is not named; Persian tradition called her Zulaykha, and the poem of Yusuf and Zulaykha turned a story about temptation into one about longing and transformation. The name has been given ever since.
How old is the name Zuleyka?
Zuleyka first appears in US birth records in 1975 — 50 years ago. The typical Zuleyka is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,600 people named Zuleyka are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Zuleyka most popular?
Zuleyka peaked in 2015, reaching #1685 nationally. Today it ranks #4987, 3,302 places below that high. See the whole 2015 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Zulaykha to Zuleyka
The story of Zuleyka
The Qur'an tells the story of Joseph in Egypt at length and calls it the most beautiful of stories, but leaves the woman unnamed. Persian poets named her Zulaykha and wrote her a long afterlife: in the mature versions she grows old, is transformed, and the story becomes a parable about the soul's love for the divine. That tradition carried the name across the Persian, Turkish and Urdu-speaking world. Spanish took it too, through Moorish Spain, giving Zulema and Zuleika, and it is used across Latin America.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Not established. The name enters the record already attached to the story, and no source language claims it convincingly; brilliant and fair-skinned are both often printed and rest on nothing solid. What is documented is the literary tradition, which is unusually rich.
How the name formed
- Zulaykha
- Zuleika
- Zuleyka
Related forms: زليخة · Zoleykha · Zulema · Züleyha
Pronouncing Zuleyka
soo-LAY-kah
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Latin American Spanish says the z as an s; Persian and Turkish say it as a z and put more weight on the last syllable.
Nicknames for Zuleyka
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
- 1975
- Most girls named
- 2015126 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1685reached in 2015
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%26 in 2025, from 26
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.
Zuleyka in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- زليخة in Arabic — transliteration
- Zoleykha in Persian — same name
- Zulema in Spanish — related form
- Züleyha in Turkish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Zuleykas among us
people named Zuleyka are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 61,818 born in 2025 was named Zuleyka
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Zuleyka
- #4987
- Zuleyka on the 2025 chart
- #917
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Zuleyka went to 26 girls in 2025, but Zuleika 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 — 4,070 places above the chart.
- Zuleyka26
- Zuleika17
About 1 girl in 37,378 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 61,818 for Zuleyka 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 Avelina test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Zuleyka's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Avelina climbed just as high around 1932, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Avelina's path sketches the road Zuleyka is walking now.
Zuleyka 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 Zuleyka is headed
Zuleyka is easing off slowly — about 23% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Zuleyka beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Zuleyka in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It carries one of the richest literary traditions attached to any woman's name.
- Zuly is a warm ready short form used across Latin America.
- It is recognized from Iran to Mexico, which very few names manage.
- Zuleyka, Zuleika, Zulaykha and Zulema are all in use, so the spelling will be asked for constantly.
- Its meaning is not recoverable, so any given for it online is a guess.
- In the story its bearer begins as the one who tempts, which some families weigh.
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What they receive
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Zuleyka
Feminine · #4987 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Zuleykas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Zuleyka are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Zuleyka?
- Zuleyka is the most-used spelling in US records — 26 of the 43 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Zuleika.
- How popular is the name Zuleyka in 2025?
- Zuleyka ranks #4987 among US girl names in 2025, with 26 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Zuleyka?
- About 1 in every 61,818 US girls born in 2025 was named Zuleyka — 26 in all.
- Will my child share the name Zuleyka with classmates?
- Zuleyka will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Zuleyka
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Perri#4987 · Giannina#4987 · Karisma#4987 · Mccall#4987 · Makinley#4987 · Jayani#4987 · Embry#4987 · Mela#4987
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Zuleyka? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Zuleyka and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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