Akim
Of Arabic origin meaning "wise", "intelligent" or "sagacious".
Name Census estimates that about 771 living Americans carry the first name Akim. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Akim today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Akim births was 2023 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Akim. 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 Akim with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
771
~ 1 in 444,558 Americans
Peak year
2023
33 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,230
Tracked since 1967
Census
Akim in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 759 people with the first name Akim, which placed it at #15,226 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
#15,226
National first-name rank
People counted
759
759 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
68.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Akim
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Akim is Black at 68.9%. The next largest groups are White (14.9%) and Hispanic (8.8%). 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 Akim 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 Akim at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American68.9% · 523
- White14.9% · 113
- Hispanic or Latino8.8% · 67
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 28
- Two or more races3.3% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 3
Popularity
Akim: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Akim from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 186 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Akim remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Akim 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 Akim during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Akims live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, Florida, California recorded the most babies named Akim, while California, Florida, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 42 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Akim
The name Akim has its origins in the ancient Hebrew language and culture, dating back several centuries. It is derived from the Hebrew word "akam," which means "to build up" or "to fortify." This name was commonly used among the Jewish communities in the Middle East and later spread to other parts of the world.
In the biblical context, the name Akim is mentioned in the Old Testament as a descendant of the tribe of Judah. It is recorded in the Book of 1 Chronicles, which chronicles the genealogies of the Israelites. However, there are no specific individuals named Akim mentioned in the biblical narratives.
The earliest recorded use of the name Akim can be traced back to the 11th century. One of the earliest notable figures with this name was Akim of Lesbos, a Greek monk and saint who lived in the late 11th century. He is venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church for his piety and devotion to monastic life.
During the Middle Ages, the name Akim gained popularity among various cultures in the Mediterranean region. One notable figure was Akim al-Din, a 13th-century physician and astronomer from Persia (present-day Iran). He made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics and the development of astronomical instruments.
In the 16th century, Akim Nakhimovsky was a prominent Russian military leader who served under Tsar Ivan the Terrible. He played a crucial role in the conquest of the Kazan Khanate and the expansion of the Russian Empire.
Another historical figure with the name Akim was Akim Volynsky, a Russian aristocrat and statesman who lived in the early 18th century. He served as a prominent advisor to Peter the Great and played a significant role in the modernization of Russia during that era.
In more recent times, Akim Tamiroff was a renowned Armenian-American actor who appeared in numerous Hollywood films during the 1930s and 1940s. He was known for his distinctive voice and character roles in movies such as "The General Died at Dawn" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls."
While the name Akim has its roots in the Hebrew language and culture, it has been adopted and used by various communities around the world, each with their own cultural interpretations and associations with the name.
People
Akim + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Akim 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
Akim: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Akim?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 771 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Akim 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 444,558 US residents.
Is Akim a common name?
We classify Akim as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 792 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Akim most popular?
The single biggest year for Akim was 2023, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Akim is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Akim in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 759 people with the name Akim, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,226 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 Akim 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 Akim?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Akim leans strongly male. 726 people counted with this name were male (94.9%), compared with 39 female bearers (5.1%). 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 Akim?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Akim is Black at 68.9%. The next largest groups are White (14.9%) and Hispanic (8.8%). 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 Akim most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Akim in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.9% (523 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 Akim in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Akim a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Akim 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 Akim still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Akim 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 Akim 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 Akim as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.