Zyaire is a modern American name, an elaborated spelling of Zaire, the former name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which comes from a Kikongo word for "river", nzadi, the Congo River itself. The name arose in African American families in the 1990s, and the Z and Y give it extra flair. Zyaire entered the US top 1000 in 2016, climbed from number 1045 in 2015 to a peak of 298 in 2024 and ranks 317th in 2025.