African · girl
Zendaya
A familiar name with a nostalgic, vintage feel.
Meaning
To give thanks
Zendaya is a rare girl name with African roots. In 2024, 279 newborns in the U.S. were given the name — ranking it #942 nationally, and it has been gently easing in recent years. Its style leans vintage — tags you can match against your partner's picks in the combiner.
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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