Fun Facts About the Name Zoraya
- 573 babies named Zoraya: U.S. records list 573 babies given the name Zoraya from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Zoraya Mean?
Zoraya is a feminine name used mainly in Spanish-speaking countries and in English. It is usually treated as a variant of Zoraida, also spelled Zorayda, and its etymology is not settled. One common proposal connects it to Arabic zahra, "blossom" or "flower," related to the idea of radiance in the title az-Zahra. The steps by which that root would have produced the Spanish form Zoraya are not clearly documented, so the Arabic derivation stays a proposal rather than a confirmed fact. Apart from any literal etymology, the name carries a traditional association with dawn or the morning star, an interpretation attached to it through its historical use in Muslim Granada rather than shown by its word parts. Because the literal origin is uncertain, the safest statement of meaning is that it is uncertain.
Zoraya Name History & Origins
The name is recorded in the Iberian Peninsula in the late Middle Ages. Its best-known early bearer was a Castilian woman, Isabel de Solís, who was captured in the 15th century and taken into the household of the Nasrid sultan of Granada, Abu l-Hasan Ali, known as Muley Hacén. After converting to Islam she took the name Zoraya and became the sultan's favored wife. Her position caused a lasting feud with the sultan's first wife, Aisha, the mother of Boabdil, and that rivalry fed the political divisions in Granada in the years before the city fell to Castile in 1492. Through this figure the name Zoraya passed into Spanish usage.
A closely related form, Zoraida, appears as the name of a Moorish woman in the captive's tale of Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote (1605); she helps the captive escape from Algiers and converts to Christianity under the name María. This literary appearance is later than the historical Zoraya and is a separate use of a similar name, though the two forms are often treated as spellings of one name. Whether Zoraya and Zoraida descend from a single earlier name, and what that name was, has not been established.
How Popular is the Name Zoraya?
Zoraya 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 2025. Its best rank was #4,985 in 2025.
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 | #4,985 | 27 | 0.0017% |
| 2024 | #6,141 | 20 | 0.0012% |
| 2023 | #6,159 | 20 | 0.0012% |
| 2022 | #5,789 | 22 | 0.0013% |
| 2021 | #5,742 | 22 | 0.0013% |
| 2020 | #7,554 | 15 | 0.0009% |
| 2019 | #7,017 | 17 | 0.0010% |
| 2018 | #7,399 | 16 | 0.0009% |
| 2017 | #8,294 | 14 | 0.0008% |
| 2016 | #5,983 | 22 | 0.0012% |
| 2015 | #6,447 | 20 | 0.0011% |
| 2014 | #8,957 | 13 | 0.0007% |
| 2013 | #7,744 | 16 | 0.0009% |
| 2012 | #6,334 | 21 | 0.0012% |
| 2011 | #6,854 | 19 | 0.0011% |
| 2010 | #9,784 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 2009 | #9,376 | 13 | 0.0007% |
| 2008 | #7,070 | 19 | 0.0010% |
| 2007 | #6,548 | 21 | 0.0011% |
| 2006 | #7,140 | 18 | 0.0009% |
| 2005 | #5,798 | 22 | 0.0012% |
| 2004 | #9,886 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 2003 | #7,575 | 15 | 0.0008% |
| 2002 | #9,479 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 2001 | #8,192 | 13 | 0.0007% |
| 2000 | #10,744 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 1999 | #8,801 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 1997 | #12,068 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1996 | #10,565 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 1995 | #11,780 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1993 | #13,439 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1986 | #8,521 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 1984 | #12,180 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1982 | #10,511 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1981 | #12,194 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1980 | #7,415 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 1979 | #10,206 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1978 | #11,474 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1977 | #11,329 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1975 | #6,484 | 9 | 0.0006% |
| 1974 | #8,771 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1972 | #9,665 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1971 | #8,322 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1970 | #5,059 | 11 | 0.0006% |
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 Zoraya 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 frank, methodical and believe in law, system and order.
You are seeking freedom, opportunities to enjoy life: to make love, to go places and to do things. You are very adventurous and willing to take risk to achieve your objectives. New ways and new experiences can't satisfy your restless nature. One adventure leads you to another. You are honest and fair, because you know that this is the only way to receive justice and honesty from other people. But your personal growth is vital for you, and it is difficult to be tied down by rules and obligations. Your restless spirit might best controlled by choosing the field of work that meet your demand for action and adventure.
✦ Zoraya's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Zoraya's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.