Zainab
An Arabic name for a fragrant plant, and by extension beauty. In Poland it stays rare: fewer than a hundred women and girls carry it, and most Poles have never met one.
Zainab Pronunciation
Zainab is pronounced zah-EE-nahp (/zaˈinap/).
What Zainab means
Where Zainab comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Zainab comes from Arabic and points to a fragrant flowering plant known across the region. The meaning recorded here is "fragrant plant, beauty," and both readings travel together. The name carries no Polish diminutive.
Its most documented bearer is Zaynab bint Ali, granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad. After the battle of Karbala in 680, she spoke publicly in Kufa and in Damascus. That public role fixed her name in memory and helped it spread across the Muslim world.
In Poland the name stays rare. It sits on no church calendar and takes no shortened form. On a school register it stands whole, four letters and no nickname. The sense stays plain. Zainab means beauty, an ornament, a sweet-smelling plant.
How many people are named Zainab
1 in 256180 women in Poland is named Zainab. 88 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #3764 among female names.
Zainab's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 girls were given the name in 2025. It has been stable for a decade.
Zainab as a middle name
Zainab is a first name for 88 women in Poland and a middle name for another 16, an 85/15 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 1876th, between Yağmur (16) and Zinaida (16).
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#1874 Yasmina16
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#1875 Yağmur16
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#1876 Zainab16
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#1877 Zinaida16
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#1878 Zita16