A Name Story by Houdhoud
زَارَة
Zara
ZAH-rah
“Flower; radiant.”
About Zara
Zara is a Muslim baby girl's name meaning "flower; radiant", an Arabic-Persian name carried for centuries across the Muslim world.
Modern name derived from the Arabic root ز-ه-ر (radiance, blooming). Sometimes treated as a variant of Zahra.
Modern, crosses easily into English.
Spellings of Zara
زَارَة is one name, written in Latin letters in more than one way. Every spelling below is the same name.
| Spelling | Births in England and Wales, 2025 | Births in France, 2016 to 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Zarathe spelling used on this page | 625 | 360 |
| Zahra | Counted on the Zahra page | |
Babies registered with exactly that spelling. England and Wales: Office for National Statistics, 2025 (the list covers names given to 3 or more babies). France: INSEE Fichier des prénoms, 2016 to 2025 added together (INSEE rounds each yearly count to the nearest 5).
Origin & roots
Origin
Arabic · Persian
Gender
Girl
Root letters
In Arabic, root letters are the seed that gives a word its meaning. Every word built from them inherits that family of meaning, and Zara is one such word.
How to say it
Stressed syllable in capitals
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Common questions about Zara
- What does the name Zara mean?
- Zara (زَارَة) means "Flower; radiant". Modern name derived from the Arabic root ز-ه-ر (radiance, blooming). Sometimes treated as a variant of Zahra.
- Is Zara a name from the Qur'an?
- Houdhoud doesn't show a verse for this name. Zara is an Arabic-Persian name long carried across the Muslim world. We only show a Qur'anic verse when it's verified against the Tanzil corpus.
- Is Zara a boy or a girl name?
- Zara is traditionally a girl's name.
- Where does the name Zara come from?
- Zara is an Arabic-Persian name, built on the root letters Z-H-R. Modern, crosses easily into English.
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