Akirah
A feminine name derived from Arabic meaning "bright" or "brilliant."
Name Census estimates that about 498 living Americans carry the first name Akirah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Akirah today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Akirah births was 2009 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Akirah. 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.
People living today
498
~ 1 in 688,262 Americans
Peak year
2009
34 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,236
Tracked since 1993
Popularity
Akirah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Akirah 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 220 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Akirah 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 Akirah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Akirahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Illinois, California, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Akirah, while North Carolina, California, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Akirah
The name Akirah has its origins in the Arabic language. It is a feminine name derived from the Arabic word "akira," which means "noble" or "precious." The name can be traced back to the 7th century CE, during the rise of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula.
Akirah was a relatively uncommon name in early Islamic history, but it gained popularity among Arab communities in the Middle Ages. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Akirah bint Al-Haytham, a renowned scholar and mathematician who lived in Baghdad during the 10th century CE. She made significant contributions to the field of optics and is considered one of the first theorists of the scientific method.
In the 12th century, Akirah al-Samarkandi was a prominent Islamic scholar and jurist from Samarkand, in modern-day Uzbekistan. She was known for her expertise in Islamic jurisprudence and her work on the interpretation of the Quran.
Akirah also appears in various Arabic literary works from the medieval period. For instance, in the epic poem "The Poem of the Cid," written in the 12th century, there is a character named Akirah who plays a significant role in the story.
During the Ottoman Empire, which ruled over much of the Middle East and North Africa from the 14th to the early 20th centuries, the name Akirah remained in use among Arabic-speaking communities. One notable figure was Akirah Khanum, a Turkish princess and daughter of Sultan Selim II, who lived in the 16th century.
In more recent history, Akirah Al-Masri was an Egyptian author and feminist activist born in 1925. She was known for her works advocating for women's rights and education in the Arab world.
People
Akirah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Akirah 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
Akirah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Akirah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 498 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Akirah 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 688,262 US residents.
Is Akirah a common name?
We classify Akirah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 504 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Akirah most popular?
The single biggest year for Akirah was 2009, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Akirah is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Akirah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Akirah in the SSA data are female. 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.
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.