Abed
One of the most devoted servants of Allah.
Name Census estimates that about 214 living Americans carry the first name Abed. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Abed today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Abed births was 1995 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Abed. 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 Abed with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
214
~ 1 in 1,601,656 Americans
Peak year
1995
13 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,951
Tracked since 1979
Census
Abed in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 761 people with the first name Abed, which placed it at #15,191 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
#15,191
National first-name rank
People counted
761
761 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Abed
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abed is White at 67.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.6%). 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 Abed 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 Abed at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.1% · 511
- Hispanic or Latino11.4% · 87
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.6% · 73
- Black or African American7.6% · 58
- Two or more races4.2% · 32
Popularity
Abed: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Abed from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 76 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Abed 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 Abed during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Abed
The name Abed has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Arabic word 'abd,' which means 'servant' or 'worshipper.' The name is often used in combination with other words to form compound names, such as 'Abdallah' (servant of Allah) or 'Abdur-Rahman' (servant of the Most Merciful).
Abed has a strong religious and cultural significance in the Islamic tradition. It is mentioned in the Quran, the holy book of Islam, and is often given to Muslim boys as a way of expressing their devotion to God. The name also has roots in pre-Islamic Arabia, where it was used by various tribes and clans.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Abed can be found in the Umayyad Caliphate (661-750 CE), where it was borne by several prominent figures, including Abed ibn al-Abras, a notable poet and warrior. Another early bearer of the name was Abed al-Rahman I, the founder of the Umayyad dynasty in Spain, who ruled from 756 to 788 CE.
Throughout history, the name Abed has been associated with scholars, poets, and religious figures. One notable example is Abed al-Qadir al-Jilani (1077-1166 CE), a renowned Sufi mystic and founder of the Qadiriyya order, who is revered in the Islamic world for his spiritual teachings and contributions to Islamic mysticism.
Another famous bearer of the name was Abed al-Rahman al-Sufi (903-986 CE), a Persian astronomer and mathematician who contributed significantly to the development of astronomy and the understanding of stars and constellations. His work, known as the "Book of Fixed Stars," was widely influential in the Islamic world and beyond.
In more recent times, Abed has been borne by several influential figures, including Abed al-Aziz ibn Saud (1875-1953), the first monarch of Saudi Arabia, and Abed al-Karim Qasim (1914-1963), an Iraqi nationalist and revolutionary who served as the Prime Minister of Iraq from 1958 to 1963.
While the name Abed has its roots in the Arabic and Islamic tradition, it has also gained popularity in other cultures and regions, particularly among those with significant Muslim populations or influences. The name continues to be widely used today, carrying with it a rich history and cultural significance.
People
Abed + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Abed 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
Abed: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Abed?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 214 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Abed 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 1,601,656 US residents.
Is Abed a common name?
We classify Abed as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 219 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Abed most popular?
The single biggest year for Abed was 1995, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Abed is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Abed in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 761 people with the name Abed, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,191 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 Abed 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 Abed?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Abed appears almost entirely male. Of the 770 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 Abed?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abed is White at 67.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.6%). 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 Abed most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Abed in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.1% (511 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 Abed in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Abed a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Abed 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 Abed still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Abed 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 Abed 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 common is the name Abed?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.