Bah
A West African name meaning "father" or "chief".
Name Census estimates that about 0 living Americans carry the first name Bah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bah today is around 0 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bah births was 1888 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bah. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Bah. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
0
~ - Americans
Peak year
1888
6 babies that year
Average age
-
1908 SSA rank
#2,138
Tracked since 1888
Census
Bah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 143 people with the first name Bah, which placed it at #46,519 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
#46,519
National first-name rank
People counted
143
143 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
46.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bah is Asian/Pacific Islander at 46.9%. The next largest groups are Black (32.2%) and White (11.9%). 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 Bah 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 Bah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander46.9% · 67
- Black or African American32.2% · 46
- White11.9% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native4.9% · 7
- Two or more races2.8% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 2
Popularity
Bah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bah from the 1880s through to the 1900s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1880s, with 6 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
Bah 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 Bah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bah
The given name Bah has its origins in various ancient cultures and languages across different regions of the world. One of the earliest known references to this name can be traced back to the Sumerian civilization in Mesopotamia, where it was derived from the word "bahu," meaning "great" or "mighty."
In ancient Egypt, the name Bah was closely associated with the concept of the soul or the spiritual essence of a person. It was often used as a title or epithet for deities and pharaohs, such as Bah-Ra, which translates to "the soul of the sun god Ra." This name was frequently found inscribed on temple walls and hieroglyphic texts.
The name Bah also appears in various religious scriptures and sacred texts from different cultures. In the Hindu Vedas, the word "bah" is mentioned as a sacred syllable, and it is believed to have mystical powers and significance in certain rituals and mantras.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Bah was Bah-Hotep, an ancient Egyptian scribe and architect who lived during the Old Kingdom, around 2600 BCE. He is renowned for his remarkable architectural contributions, including the design of the Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara.
Another notable figure was Bah-Rah, a powerful Egyptian pharaoh who ruled during the 26th Dynasty, around 664–610 BCE. He is credited with reuniting Egypt after a period of political turmoil and foreign occupation.
In the realm of literature, Bah-ul-Mulk was a renowned Persian poet and scholar who lived during the 11th century CE. He was highly esteemed for his mastery of the Arabic and Persian languages and his contributions to the field of poetry and literary criticism.
During the medieval period, Bah-ad-Din Zakariya al-Razi was a prominent Persian polymath who made significant contributions to various fields, including medicine, philosophy, and natural sciences. He lived from 854 to 925 CE and is considered one of the most influential scholars of the Islamic Golden Age.
In more recent history, Bah-Uddin, a revered Sufi mystic and spiritual leader from India, lived during the 13th century CE. He played a crucial role in spreading the teachings of Sufism and establishing the Chishti order of Sufism in the Indian subcontinent.
People
Bah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Bah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 0 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bah 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 - US residents.
Is Bah a common name?
We classify Bah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 2.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bah most popular?
The single biggest year for Bah was 1888, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bah is about 0 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 143 people with the name Bah, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #46,519 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 Bah 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 Bah?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Bah on both sides of the split. Of the 139 people counted with this name, 91 were male (65.5%) and 48 were female (34.5%). 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 Bah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bah is Asian/Pacific Islander at 46.9%. The next largest groups are Black (32.2%) and White (11.9%). 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 Bah most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Bah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.9% (67 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 Bah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bah 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 Bah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bah 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 Bah 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 Bah as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Bah, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.