| Roxana | Zarina | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Dawn, radiant | golden |
| Origin | Persian | persian |
| Gender | Girl | Girl |
| Pronunciation | rok-SAN-ah | zah-REE-nah |
| Syllables | 3 | 3 |
| First appeared | 1882 | 0 |
| Peak year | 1991 (315) | 2015 (95) |
| In 2025 | 77 | 0 |
| Trend | Declining | Rising |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Roxana | Zarina |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 555 | 403 |
| 2010s | 1,270 | 575 |
| 2000s | 2,304 | 286 |
| 1990s | 2,517 | 178 |
| 1980s | 2,272 | 113 |
| 1970s | 944 | 46 |
| 1960s | 690 | 11 |
| 1950s | 588 | 0 |
| 1940s | 395 | 0 |
| 1930s | 185 | 0 |
| 1920s | 133 | 0 |
| 1910s | 67 | 0 |
| 1900s | 31 | 0 |
| 1890s | 17 | 0 |
| 1880s | 26 | 0 |
Roxana means “dawn,” “bright” or “radiant”; she married Alexander the Great.
From Persian 'zar' (gold), meaning 'golden' or 'made of gold'. Widely used in Persian, Urdu and across South Asia. (Unrelated Slavic 'tsar/zora' associations are sometimes attached but are secondary.)
Roxana is more popular than Zarina today: about 77 US babies were given the name Roxana in 2025, compared with 0 named Zarina.
Roxana means Dawn, radiant (Persian origin), while Zarina means golden (persian origin).
In US records, Roxana first appears in 1882 and Zarina in 0, so Zarina has the longer recorded history.