Abdou
A masculine Arabic name derived from "Abd" meaning "servant" and "Allah" meaning "God".
Name Census estimates that about 303 living Americans carry the first name Abdou. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Abdou today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Abdou births was 2024 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Abdou. 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 Abdou with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
303
~ 1 in 1,131,202 Americans
Peak year
2024
19 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,048
Tracked since 1991
Census
Abdou in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 804 people with the first name Abdou, which placed it at #14,601 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
#14,601
National first-name rank
People counted
804
804 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
82.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Abdou
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abdou is Black at 82.7%. The next largest groups are White (13.7%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Abdou 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 Abdou at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American82.7% · 665
- White13.7% · 110
- Two or more races2.2% · 18
- Hispanic or Latino1.0% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 3
Popularity
Abdou: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Abdou from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 103 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Abdou remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Abdou 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 Abdou during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Abdous live
Origin
Meaning and history of Abdou
The name Abdou is of Arabic origin, derived from the word 'Abd' meaning 'servant' or 'slave' and is often combined with one of the names or attributes of God, such as 'Abd Allah' meaning 'servant of God'. The name has been in use since the early days of Islam and is popular across the Middle East and North Africa.
The earliest recorded use of the name Abdou can be traced back to the 7th century AD, during the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his companions. One of the most notable figures bearing this name was Abdou ibn Hudhayfa, a companion of the Prophet and a renowned military commander who participated in several important battles during the early Islamic conquests.
Throughout history, several prominent figures have borne the name Abdou. One such figure was Abdou al-Qadir al-Jilani (1077-1166), a renowned Sufi mystic and founder of the Qadiri order, one of the most influential Sufi orders in the Islamic world. His teachings and writings have had a profound impact on Islamic spirituality and continue to be widely studied and revered.
Another notable Abdou was Abdou al-Mu'min (1094-1163), the first Caliph of the Almohad dynasty in North Africa and Andalusia. He was a influential ruler who expanded the Almohad empire and played a significant role in the reconquest of parts of the Iberian Peninsula from Christian rulers.
In the realm of literature, Abdou al-Qahir al-Jurjani (1009-1078) was a prominent Arabic philologist and literary theorist from Iran. His works, such as "Dala'il al-I'jaz" (Proofs of Inimitability), made significant contributions to the study of Arabic rhetoric and literary criticism.
Another notable figure was Abdou Moussa Diop (1923-2012), a Senegalese historian, anthropologist, and scholar who is widely regarded as one of the most influential thinkers in the field of African history and cultural identity. His works, such as "The African Origin of Civilization" and "The Cultural Unity of Black Africa," challenged Eurocentric perspectives and played a crucial role in shaping the discourse on African history and culture.
These are just a few examples of the many notable figures throughout history who have borne the name Abdou, reflecting its rich cultural and historical significance within the Arabic-speaking world and beyond.
People
Abdou + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Abdou 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
Abdou: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Abdou?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 303 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Abdou 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 1,131,202 US residents.
Is Abdou a common name?
We classify Abdou as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 306 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Abdou most popular?
The single biggest year for Abdou was 2024, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Abdou is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Abdou in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 804 people with the name Abdou, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,601 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 Abdou 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 Abdou?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Abdou appears almost entirely male. Of the 804 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Abdou?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abdou is Black at 82.7%. The next largest groups are White (13.7%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Abdou most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Abdou in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.7% (665 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 Abdou in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Abdou a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Abdou 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 Abdou still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Abdou 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 Abdou 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 have the name Abdou?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Abdou, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.