Abdala
A masculine Arabic name meaning servant of the Most High.
Name Census estimates that about 6 living Americans carry the first name Abdala. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Abdala today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Abdala births was 2006 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Abdala. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Abdala. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
6
~ 1 in 57,125,723 Americans
Peak year
2006
6 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2006 SSA rank
#10,663
Tracked since 2006
Census
Abdala in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 121 people with the first name Abdala, which placed it at #50,149 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
#50,149
National first-name rank
People counted
121
121 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
53.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Abdala
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abdala is Black at 53.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.3%) and White (20.7%). 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 Abdala 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 Abdala at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American53.7% · 65
- Hispanic or Latino22.3% · 27
- White20.7% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 2
- Two or more races1.7% · 2
Popularity
Abdala: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Abdala 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 Abdala during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 6 | 0 | 6 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Abdala
The name Abdala has its origins in the Arabic language and is derived from the root word "abd," which means "servant" or "slave," and the word "Allah," which refers to the Islamic God. The name can be translated to mean "servant of God" or "worshiper of God."
This name first appeared during the early days of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula and was commonly used by Arab Muslims. It gained popularity as a way to express devotion and submission to the Islamic faith. The name's association with the Arabic language and Islamic culture can be traced back to the 7th century CE.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Abdala can be found in the Quran, the central religious text of Islam. It is believed that the name was borne by some of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, though specific individuals are not clearly identified.
Throughout history, several notable figures have carried the name Abdala. One of the earliest was Abdala ibn Abi Bakr (c. 615-686 CE), a prominent Muslim military leader and companion of the Prophet Muhammad. Another was Abdala ibn Mas'ud (c. 594-653 CE), a renowned scholar and one of the closest companions of the Prophet.
During the medieval period, Abdala ibn al-Muqaffa' (c. 720-757 CE) was a famous Arab writer and translator who played a significant role in the translation of Persian literary works into Arabic. In the 12th century, Abdala al-Idrisi (c. 1099-1166 CE) was a renowned Arab geographer and cartographer who served at the court of King Roger II of Sicily.
In more recent times, Abdala Hakim (1892-1959) was an influential Egyptian writer and journalist who played a prominent role in the literary renaissance of the early 20th century. Additionally, Abdala Khayr al-Din (1891-1949) was a prominent Sudanese poet and writer who contributed significantly to the development of modern Arabic literature.
While the name Abdala has been used across various regions and cultures influenced by Islam, it has maintained its strong association with the Arabic language and Islamic heritage throughout its history.
People
Abdala + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Abdala 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
Abdala: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Abdala?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Abdala 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 57,125,723 US residents.
Is Abdala a common name?
We classify Abdala as "Very Rare". It ranks above 22.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Abdala most popular?
The single biggest year for Abdala was 2006, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Abdala is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Abdala in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 121 people with the name Abdala, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #50,149 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 Abdala 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 Abdala?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Abdala leans strongly male. 121 people counted with this name were male (92.4%), compared with 10 female bearers (7.6%). 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 Abdala?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abdala is Black at 53.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.3%) and White (20.7%). 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 Abdala most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Abdala in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.7% (65 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 Abdala in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Abdala a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Abdala 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 Abdala still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Abdala 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 Abdala 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 are named Abdala?
Want to know how many people have the name Abdala? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.