Amina
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "honest, trustworthy, loyal".
Name Census estimates that about 18,015 living Americans carry the first name Amina. It sits at #307 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Amina today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Amina births was 2017 (1,179 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Amina. 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 Amina with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Amina is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
18K
~ 1 in 19,026 Americans
Peak year
2017
1,179 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#307
Tracked since 1943
Census
Amina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 18,082 people with the first name Amina, which placed it at #1,711 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
#1,711
National first-name rank
People counted
18K
18,082 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
44.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Amina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amina is Black at 44.0%. The next largest groups are White (21.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (17.8%). 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 Amina 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 Amina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American44.0% · 7,964
- White21.4% · 3,870
- Asian and Pacific Islander17.8% · 3,217
- Hispanic or Latino9.0% · 1,633
- Two or more races7.5% · 1,349
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 49
Popularity
Amina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Amina from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 7,866 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Amina remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Amina 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 Amina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aminas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Amina, while Idaho, New Mexico, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 382 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Amina
The name Amina originates from Arabic and has its roots in the word "amin", which means "trustworthy" or "faithful". It is a common name among Muslims, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Amina can be found in the Quran, where it refers to the mother of the Prophet Muhammad. According to Islamic tradition, Amina was a highly respected and pious woman who played a crucial role in the upbringing of her son.
Throughout history, there have been several notable women who bore the name Amina. In the 17th century, Amina of Zaria was a powerful queen who ruled over the Zazzau Kingdom, which is now part of northern Nigeria. She was known for her military prowess and her efforts to expand the kingdom's territories.
Another prominent figure was Amina Qaddour (1888-1954), a Moroccan activist and feminist who fought for women's rights and education in her country. She established several schools for girls and worked tirelessly to promote gender equality.
In the realm of literature, Amina Saïd (1953-), a Tunisian writer and academic, is renowned for her novels and essays that explore themes of identity, gender, and postcolonial studies. Her works have been widely acclaimed and translated into multiple languages.
Amina Inloes (1942-2019) was an American musician and composer who made significant contributions to the field of experimental music. She collaborated with renowned artists such as John Cage and was celebrated for her innovative approach to sound.
Amina Wadud (1952-) is an American scholar and activist who has played a pivotal role in promoting a progressive interpretation of Islam. She is known for her work on gender and Islamic feminism, challenging traditional interpretations of the Quran and advocating for greater inclusion of women in religious leadership.
People
Amina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Amina 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
Amina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Amina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 18,015 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Amina 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 19,026 US residents.
Is Amina a common name?
We classify Amina as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 18,292 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Amina most popular?
The single biggest year for Amina was 2017, when 1,179 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Amina is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Amina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 18,082 people with the name Amina, or 5.99 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,711 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 Amina 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 Amina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Amina appears almost entirely female. Of the 18,079 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Amina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amina is Black at 44.0%. The next largest groups are White (21.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (17.8%). 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 Amina most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Amina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.0% (7,964 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 Amina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Amina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Amina 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.
Is Amina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Amina 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 Amina 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 Amina as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.