Zia
About Zia
A succinct variation of Ziya, Zia is an Arabic boy name, with a glowing meaning, also used as the Urdu and Bengali transcription. Notable bearers of the name include Bangaledeshi politician Ziaur Rahman (also known as Zia-ur-Rahman), scholar Zia Uddin, and former president of Pakistan, Zia-ul-Haq.
Zia (said as ZEE-uh) also appears in the Bible, borne by a minor character and a descendant of Gad, the founder of one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. In this context, it may mean "trembling, shaking".
Pronounced ZEE-ah.
As of October 2026, Zia ranked #7673 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #4699 in 2022.
Editor: Sophie Kihm
Sources: US popularity data is from the Social Security Administration. Meanings and origins are from Nameberry's name references.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | #4,699 | 22 | 12.6 |
| 2023 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | — | 0 | 0 |
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Zia on lists
Zia in pop culture
- Has been used as a first name in Britain since the sixties
but is likely to be mistaken for a girl's name
- Zia
central character in the indie black comedy "Wristcutters: A Love Story" (2006), which was based on a short story by Israeli writer Etgar Keret