Abdallah
Servant of Allah, of Arabic origin.
Name Census estimates that about 1,568 living Americans carry the first name Abdallah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Abdallah today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Abdallah births was 2018 (71 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Abdallah. 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 Abdallah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 218,593 Americans
Peak year
2018
71 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,780
Tracked since 1976
Census
Abdallah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,736 people with the first name Abdallah, which placed it at #6,011 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
#6,011
National first-name rank
People counted
2.7K
2,736 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Abdallah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abdallah is White at 75.1%. The next largest groups are Black (16.9%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Abdallah 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 Abdallah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.1% · 2,054
- Black or African American16.9% · 462
- Two or more races4.3% · 117
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 52
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 49
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
Popularity
Abdallah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Abdallah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 547 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Abdallah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Abdallah 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 Abdallah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Abdallahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. New York, Illinois, Ohio recorded the most babies named Abdallah, while Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 41 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Abdallah
The name Abdallah has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the root words "abd" meaning "servant" and "Allah" referring to God in Islamic faith. The name can be traced back to the 6th century CE, during the early days of Islam.
Abdallah was a common name among early followers of Islam, as it signified devotion to God. It is mentioned in several Islamic texts, including the Quran and Hadith. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name is Abdullah ibn Abbas, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad and a renowned scholar of the 7th century CE.
Throughout history, there have been many notable individuals bearing the name Abdallah. One of the most famous was Abdullah ibn al-Muqaffa, an Arab writer and translator who lived in the 8th century CE and played a crucial role in translating Persian literature into Arabic.
Another prominent figure was Abdullah ibn Salam, a Jewish scholar who converted to Islam during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century CE. He is revered for his knowledge and contributions to early Islamic jurisprudence.
In the 12th century CE, Abdullah al-Idrisi was a renowned Arab geographer and cartographer who served at the court of the Norman King Roger II of Sicily. His work, the Nuzhat al-Mushtaq, was a pioneering treatise on geography and contributed significantly to the development of cartography.
The name Abdallah was also borne by Abdullah ibn Battuta, a famous Moroccan explorer and traveler who lived in the 14th century CE. His extensive travels across Africa, Asia, and Europe are documented in his book, the Rihla, which provides valuable insights into the cultural and social landscapes of the medieval era.
Another notable figure was Abdullah ibn Yasin, a Berber religious leader and scholar from the 11th century CE. He played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Almoravid dynasty, which ruled over a vast empire stretching from modern-day Morocco to Spain and parts of West Africa.
These are just a few examples of the many influential individuals throughout history who bore the name Abdallah, a name that has held significant meaning and importance within the Arabic and Islamic traditions.
People
Abdallah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Abdallah 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
Abdallah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Abdallah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,568 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Abdallah 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 218,593 US residents.
Is Abdallah a common name?
We classify Abdallah as "Rare". It ranks above 92.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,591 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Abdallah most popular?
The single biggest year for Abdallah was 2018, when 71 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Abdallah is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Abdallah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,736 people with the name Abdallah, or 0.91 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,011 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 Abdallah 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 Abdallah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Abdallah appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,732 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Abdallah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abdallah is White at 75.1%. The next largest groups are Black (16.9%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Abdallah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Abdallah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.1% (2,054 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 Abdallah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Abdallah a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Abdallah 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 Abdallah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Abdallah 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 Abdallah 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 called Abdallah?
See how many people share the name Abdallah on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.