Anum
An Arabic feminine name meaning "second life" or "new soul".
Name Census estimates that about 594 living Americans carry the first name Anum. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Anum today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Anum births was 1992 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Anum. 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 Anum with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
594
~ 1 in 577,028 Americans
Peak year
1992
32 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,590
Tracked since 1988
Census
Anum in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,068 people with the first name Anum, which placed it at #11,830 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
#11,830
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,068 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
92.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Anum
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anum is Asian/Pacific Islander at 92.3%. The next largest groups are White (3.5%) and Two or More Races (2.4%). 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 Anum 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 Anum at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander92.3% · 986
- White3.5% · 37
- Two or more races2.4% · 26
- Black or African American1.2% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino0.6% · 6
Popularity
Anum: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Anum from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 222 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
Anum 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 Anum during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Anums live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Anum, while New Jersey, Illinois, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 24 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Anum
The name Anum has its origins in ancient Mesopotamia, specifically in the Sumerian and Akkadian civilizations that flourished in the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers from around 3500 BC to 600 BC. It is derived from the Sumerian word "an," meaning "heaven" or "sky," and the suffix "-um," which was a common grammatical element used in Sumerian and Akkadian names.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Anum is found in the Sumerian King List, an ancient text that lists the kings who ruled over the various city-states of Sumer. The name Anum is mentioned as the name of a king who reigned in the city of Uruk, although the exact dates of his reign are uncertain.
In Mesopotamian mythology, Anum was also the name of the supreme deity in the Akkadian pantheon. Anum was considered the father of the gods and was associated with the celestial realm, often depicted wearing a horned cap symbolizing his authority over the heavens.
One of the most famous historical figures bearing the name Anum was Anum-hirbi, a king of the Akkadian city-state of Lagash who ruled around 2350 BC. He is known for commissioning the construction of several significant temples and for his military campaigns against neighboring city-states.
Another notable figure named Anum was Anum-pîr-nahhunte, a high-ranking official and military commander who served under the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal in the 7th century BC. He is mentioned in several ancient Assyrian inscriptions for his role in military campaigns and administrative duties.
In the field of ancient Near Eastern studies, the name Anum is also associated with the renowned archaeologist and Assyriologist Anum-hirbi Gelb (1907-1995). Gelb made significant contributions to the understanding of ancient Mesopotamian languages and writing systems, particularly cuneiform script.
Throughout history, the name Anum has also been used by various individuals from different cultural backgrounds, although its usage has been relatively uncommon compared to other names of Mesopotamian origin. Some examples include Anum Singh, a 17th-century Indian warrior and military commander, and Anum Qudoos, a contemporary Pakistani artist and writer.
People
Anum + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Anum 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
Anum: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Anum?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 594 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Anum 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 577,028 US residents.
Is Anum a common name?
We classify Anum as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 607 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Anum most popular?
The single biggest year for Anum was 1992, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Anum is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Anum in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,068 people with the name Anum, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,830 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 Anum 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 Anum?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Anum leans strongly female. 1,046 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 16 male bearers (1.5%). 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 Anum?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anum is Asian/Pacific Islander at 92.3%. The next largest groups are White (3.5%) and Two or More Races (2.4%). 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 Anum most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Anum in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.3% (986 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 Anum in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Anum a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Anum 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 Anum still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Anum 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 Anum 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 Anum?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Anum, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.