Zainab

“Variant of Zaynab — Fragrant flower; desert flower” — Arabic origin

Girl's name · #810 in the US (2025) · Trending

Zainab is climbing: on the charts since 1957, it reached #810 in 2025 — its strongest showing yet, with about 340 girls given the name last year. Roughly 7,300 have carried it all-time. Together with its spelling variant Zaynab (#1492), Zainab would rank around #608 with about 480 births last year — the newborns split about 70/30 between Zainab and Zaynab.

Around the world: about 1 in 660 girls in England & Wales (2025) · about 1 in 1,100 girls in Scotland (2025) · about 1 in 1,100 girls in New Zealand (2025).

Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 19 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.

Famous Zainabs

Zainab bint Muhammad — Eldest daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad
Zainab Hawa Bangura — Sierra Leonean politician
Zainab Salbi — Iraqi American author, women's rights activist
Zainab Biisheva — Soviet writer (1908–1996)
Zainab al-Ghazali — Egyptian activist (1923-2005)

In stories & tradition

Zainab Masood — EastEnders

What Zainabs become

Among 135 notable people named Zainab:

Medical professionals appear 1.97× more often than among typical names — e.g. Zainab Shinkafi Bagudu, Nigerian consultant pediatrician.

Similar names: Zaynab · Ayah · Shaindy · Zahra · Samira · Zaira

Browse more girl names — popularity, trends and eras for 5,700+ American names, free.

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