Fun Facts About the Name Zarina
- More than 1 thousand babies named Zarina: U.S. records list 1,612 babies given the name Zarina from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Zarina Mean?
Zarina is a feminine name most often explained as "golden," from Persian. It rests on the Persian word zar (زر), "gold," and the related adjective zarin (زرین), "golden, made of gold." The name carries a final -a, a feminine ending common in Persian-influenced naming in South Asia and Central Asia. Older Iranian and Indic forms of the same word for gold - Avestan zaranya- and Sanskrit hiraṇya- - point to a literal sense of "golden" or "made of gold" rather than a symbolic one.
A separate and unrelated explanation treats Zarina as a form of the Russian title tsarina (also spelled czarina), the wife or widow of a tsar, meaning "empress." That word is built on tsar and ultimately on Latin Caesar. The two derivations sound nearly alike, but they are not connected: the "empress" reading is an English-language association of similar sound, not the source of the Persian name.
Zarina Name History & Origins
Zarina belongs to the Persian naming tradition and is used in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Central Asia. In Persian and Urdu it is written with the same root as zarin, "golden," and the closely related name Zarin is also common. Because Persian served for centuries as a court, literary, and administrative language across a wide region, gold-based names of this type entered the naming stock of Persian-speaking, Turkic-speaking, and South Asian Muslim communities, including Sindhi and other regional groups in present-day Pakistan and India.
The name is well attested among modern bearers, such as the Sindhi singer Zarina Baloch (1937 - 2005), the Indian actress Zarina Wahab, and the Indian-American artist Zarina Hashmi (1937 - 2020). It also appears in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, where Persian and Turkic naming traditions have long overlapped.
In English-language popular culture, Zarina is the name of the fairy at the center of the Disney film The Pirate Fairy (2014). That recent use came long after the name was established in Persian and South Asian naming and did not create it.
How Popular is the Name Zarina?
Zarina has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 2015. Its best rank was #2,079 in 2015.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #2,325 | 79 | 0.0049% |
| 2024 | #2,340 | 79 | 0.0049% |
| 2023 | #2,673 | 66 | 0.0041% |
| 2022 | #2,753 | 63 | 0.0038% |
| 2021 | #2,887 | 59 | 0.0036% |
| 2020 | #2,886 | 57 | 0.0035% |
| 2019 | #2,889 | 58 | 0.0035% |
| 2018 | #2,741 | 63 | 0.0037% |
| 2017 | #2,923 | 57 | 0.0033% |
| 2016 | #2,593 | 69 | 0.0039% |
| 2015 | #2,079 | 95 | 0.0053% |
| 2014 | #2,467 | 74 | 0.0041% |
| 2013 | #3,700 | 42 | 0.0024% |
| 2012 | #4,484 | 33 | 0.0019% |
| 2011 | #3,914 | 39 | 0.0022% |
| 2010 | #3,566 | 45 | 0.0025% |
| 2009 | #4,476 | 34 | 0.0019% |
| 2008 | #4,757 | 32 | 0.0017% |
| 2007 | #4,806 | 31 | 0.0016% |
| 2006 | #5,703 | 24 | 0.0013% |
| 2005 | #5,434 | 24 | 0.0013% |
| 2004 | #4,286 | 33 | 0.0018% |
| 2003 | #5,416 | 23 | 0.0013% |
| 2002 | #4,378 | 29 | 0.0016% |
| 2001 | #4,687 | 26 | 0.0014% |
| 2000 | #4,183 | 30 | 0.0017% |
| 1999 | #4,575 | 25 | 0.0014% |
| 1998 | #6,067 | 17 | 0.0010% |
| 1997 | #3,896 | 29 | 0.0017% |
| 1996 | #5,063 | 20 | 0.0011% |
| 1995 | #7,508 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 1994 | #5,248 | 19 | 0.0011% |
| 1993 | #5,951 | 16 | 0.0009% |
| 1992 | #5,480 | 18 | 0.0010% |
| 1991 | #7,427 | 12 | 0.0006% |
| 1990 | #8,497 | 10 | 0.0005% |
| 1989 | #5,284 | 17 | 0.0009% |
| 1988 | #7,689 | 10 | 0.0006% |
| 1987 | #13,253 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1986 | #6,610 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 1985 | #4,453 | 18 | 0.0010% |
| 1984 | #6,291 | 11 | 0.0007% |
| 1983 | #5,821 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 1982 | #8,220 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 1981 | #7,408 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 1980 | #5,910 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 1979 | #8,058 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 1976 | #6,608 | 9 | 0.0006% |
| 1975 | #6,482 | 9 | 0.0006% |
| 1974 | #8,768 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1972 | #6,554 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 1971 | #8,318 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1968 | #7,010 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1966 | #7,620 | 5 | 0.0003% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Zarina Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You have aspiration and inspiration, hope and guidance. Since you are intuitive and perceptive and you understand human nature. You have the power to achieve. Diplomacy and discretion make you a good mediator. You are inspired, introspective, and have a good understanding of the human heart. You can have the ability to commercialize your artistic talents successfully. You are often a mystery to others and to yourself. You are always reaching for something higher, without exactly knowing what that "higher" is. You are bold, independent, inquisitive and interested in research. You know what you want and why you want it.
You find the best contentment in life when you own your own home and provide well for your family and loved ones. You have a great sense of responsibility and duty. You are comforting, appreciative and affectionate. Your obligation in life is to hold justice and truth, and if you follow the Law, you can find the great happiness and satisfaction.
✦ Zarina's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Zarina's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.