Abanoub
Abanoub is an Egyptian masculine name derived from Coptic meaning "golden man".
Name Census estimates that about 189 living Americans carry the first name Abanoub. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Abanoub today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Abanoub births was 2017 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Abanoub. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Abanoub with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
189
~ 1 in 1,813,515 Americans
Peak year
2017
14 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2023 SSA rank
#8,920
Tracked since 1991
Census
Abanoub in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 487 people with the first name Abanoub, which placed it at #20,996 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#20,996
National first-name rank
People counted
487
487 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
94.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Abanoub
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abanoub is White at 94.9%. The next largest groups are Black (1.8%) and Hispanic (1.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Abanoub described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Abanoub at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White94.9% · 462
- Black or African American1.8% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 7
- Two or more races1.4% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 2
Popularity
Abanoub: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Abanoub from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 76 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Abanoub remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Abanoub by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Abanoub during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Abanoubs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Abanoub
The name Abanoub has its origins in the Coptic language, which was the final stage of the ancient Egyptian language family. The name is derived from the Coptic words "Ab" meaning "father" and "noub" meaning "gold," thus translating to "Father of Gold" or "Golden Father."
Abanoub is a prominent name in the Coptic Christian tradition, as it was the name of one of the most revered saints and martyrs in the Coptic Church. Saint Abanoub lived in the 4th century AD and was a renowned ascetic and hermit who resided in the Nitrian Desert of Egypt. He was known for his piety, wisdom, and miraculous healings, and his life and teachings were documented in various Coptic hagiographies and manuscripts.
The first recorded use of the name Abanoub can be traced back to the 4th century AD, when the life of Saint Abanoub was chronicled in Coptic literature. Over the centuries, the name gained widespread popularity among Coptic Christians, particularly in Egypt and other regions with significant Coptic communities.
One of the earliest historical figures known to have borne the name Abanoub was Saint Abanoub himself, who lived from around 325 AD to 395 AD. He is venerated as one of the most important saints in the Coptic Orthodox Church and is celebrated annually on the 16th day of the Coptic month of Abib (July/August).
Another notable figure named Abanoub was Abanoub the Grammarian, a Coptic scholar and linguist who lived in the 7th century AD. He was renowned for his expertise in the Coptic language and contributed significantly to the preservation and study of Coptic literature and grammar.
In the 9th century AD, there was Abanoub the Patriarch, who served as the 58th Coptic Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark from 849 AD to 870 AD. He played an important role in the spiritual leadership of the Coptic Church during a tumultuous period of Islamic rule in Egypt.
The name Abanoub also appears in the historical records of the 12th century AD, with Abanoub the Scribe, a renowned Coptic copyist and calligrapher who produced numerous manuscripts and codices, many of which are still preserved in various libraries and collections around the world.
In the 14th century AD, there was Abanoub the Monk, a revered Coptic monastic figure who lived in the Monastery of Saint Anthony in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. He was known for his asceticism, spiritual teachings, and contributions to the monastic tradition of the Coptic Church.
People
Abanoub + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Abanoub as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Abanoub: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Abanoub?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 189 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Abanoub going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,813,515 US residents.
Is Abanoub a common name?
We classify Abanoub as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 191 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Abanoub most popular?
The single biggest year for Abanoub was 2017, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Abanoub is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Abanoub in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 487 people with the name Abanoub, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,996 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Abanoub in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Abanoub?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Abanoub appears almost entirely male. Of the 483 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Abanoub?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abanoub is White at 94.9%. The next largest groups are Black (1.8%) and Hispanic (1.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Abanoub most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Abanoub in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.9% (462 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Abanoub in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Abanoub a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Abanoub in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Abanoub still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Abanoub in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Abanoub can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Abanoub?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.