Asad
A masculine name derived from the Arabic word for lion.
Name Census estimates that about 1,880 living Americans carry the first name Asad. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Asad today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Asad births was 2022 (88 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Asad. 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 Asad with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.9K
~ 1 in 182,316 Americans
Peak year
2022
88 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,008
Tracked since 1970
Census
Asad in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,130 people with the first name Asad, which placed it at #5,476 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
#5,476
National first-name rank
People counted
3.1K
3,130 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
63.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Asad
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Asad is Asian/Pacific Islander at 63.3%. The next largest groups are Black (18.0%) and White (13.4%). 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 Asad 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 Asad at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander63.3% · 1,981
- Black or African American18.0% · 563
- White13.4% · 420
- Two or more races3.7% · 115
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 48
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 3
Popularity
Asad: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Asad from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 497 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Asad 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 Asad during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Asads live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Asad, while Virginia, Michigan, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 57 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Asad
The name Asad is derived from an Arabic word that means "lion". It originated in the Middle East and has been used by Arabic speakers for centuries. The name has connections to the Islamic faith, as lions are mentioned in the Quran and were seen as powerful symbols of strength and courage.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Asad dates back to the 7th century AD. Asad ibn al-Furat was an Arab general who served under the Umayyad caliphate and played a key role in the Muslim conquest of Hispania (modern-day Spain and Portugal) in the year 711.
In the 9th century, Asad ibn Janah was a famous Jewish grammarian, rabbi, and philosopher who lived in Cordoba, Spain. He made significant contributions to the study of Hebrew linguistics and is considered one of the most influential scholars of the Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain.
Asad ibn Ibrahim was a 10th-century Persian mathematician and astronomer who worked in Baghdad during the Abbasid caliphate. He made advancements in the field of trigonometry and wrote several influential works on mathematics.
In the 13th century, Asad al-Din Shirazi was a renowned Persian poet and mystic who lived in present-day Iran. He was a prominent figure in the Sufi tradition and wrote beautiful poetry that explored spiritual themes.
More recently, Asad Pasha was an Ottoman statesman and military leader who served as the Governor of Baghdad in the late 19th century. He played a significant role in the modernization efforts of the Ottoman Empire and was known for his administrative reforms in the region.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Asad. The name has maintained its significance and popularity within Arabic-speaking cultures, often carrying connotations of strength, bravery, and nobility associated with the symbolic lion.
People
Asad + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Asad 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
Asad: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Asad?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,880 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Asad 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 182,316 US residents.
Is Asad a common name?
We classify Asad as "Rare". It ranks above 93.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,910 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Asad most popular?
The single biggest year for Asad was 2022, when 88 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Asad is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Asad in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,130 people with the name Asad, or 1.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,476 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 Asad 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 Asad?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Asad appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,131 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Asad?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Asad is Asian/Pacific Islander at 63.3%. The next largest groups are Black (18.0%) and White (13.4%). 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 Asad most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Asad in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.3% (1,981 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 Asad in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Asad a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Asad 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 Asad still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Asad 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 Asad 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 Americans are named Asad?
See how many Americans are named Asad on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.