African · boy

Zaire

A distinctive name with a calm, steady presence.

Rank 2024

#472

Trend

stable

Band

balanced

Styles

classic

Meaning

River that swallows all rivers

Zaire is a balanced boy name with African roots. In 2024, 651 newborns in the U.S. were given the name — ranking it #472 nationally, and its popularity has held steady in recent years. Its style leans classic — tags you can match against your partner's picks in the combiner.

classic

About African names

African names draw from a continent of remarkable linguistic range — Yoruba, Akan, Swahili, Zulu, Amharic, and hundreds more. Many traditions treat a name as a small biography: some record the day of the week a child was born, others the circumstances of the birth or the family's hopes. The result is a body of names where meaning sits right at the surface, spoken plainly.

Meaning and origin are editorial; U.S. popularity comes from Social Security Administration public files.

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