Zainab
Where Zainab comes from
Zainab hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.
Along the way
- 599Zainab bint Muhammad bornEldest daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad
- 1957First appearance#6,086 among girls, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
- 1959Zainab Hawa Bangura bornSierra Leonean politician
- 2025Peak, #807338 babies named Zainab — more than any year before or since.
In the dictionary
No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.
Namesakes
- Zainab bint Muhammad · Eldest daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, 599–629
- Zainab Hawa Bangura · Sierra Leonean politician, born 1959
- Zainab Salbi · Iraqi American author, women's rights activist, 1969–2015
- Zainab al-Ghazali · Egyptian activist, 1917–2005
- Zainab Ahmed · Nigerian politician, born 1960
Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.