Braheem
An Arabic name derived from Ibrahim, meaning "exalted father" or "father of many".
Name Census estimates that about 245 living Americans carry the first name Braheem. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Braheem today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Braheem births was 1979 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Braheem. 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
245
~ 1 in 1,398,997 Americans
Peak year
1979
18 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2014 SSA rank
#9,769
Tracked since 1976
Census
Braheem in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 163 people with the first name Braheem, which placed it at #43,340 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
#43,340
National first-name rank
People counted
163
163 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
90.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Braheem
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Braheem is Black at 90.2%. The next largest groups are White (4.3%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Braheem 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 Braheem at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American90.2% · 147
- White4.3% · 7
- Two or more races3.1% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 4
Popularity
Braheem: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Braheem from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 107 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Braheem 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 Braheem during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Braheems live
Origin
Meaning and history of Braheem
The name Braheem has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is a variation of the name Ibrahim, which is derived from the Semitic root "ẖ-r-m" meaning "exalted" or "revered." This name is closely associated with the biblical figure Abraham, known as Ibrahim in Arabic.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Braheem can be found in the Quran, the central religious text of Islam. It is the Arabic version of the name Abraham, who is revered as a prophet in both the Islamic and Judeo-Christian traditions.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Braheem. One of the earliest was Braheem bin Adham (718-783 CE), a renowned Sufi mystic and ascetic from Balkh, present-day Afghanistan. He is remembered for his renunciation of worldly possessions and his teachings on spiritual enlightenment.
Another prominent figure was Braheem al-Fazari (725-796 CE), an Arab mathematician and astronomer from Kufa, Iraq. He made significant contributions to the development of spherical trigonometry and the study of celestial bodies.
In the 12th century, Braheem bin Sahl al-Andalusi (1088-1153 CE) was a prominent Andalusian philosopher and physician. He authored several influential works on medicine and philosophy, including a commentary on Aristotle's writings.
During the Ottoman Empire, Braheem Pasha (1493-1536 CE) was a renowned military commander and statesman. He served as the Grand Vizier (chief advisor) to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and played a crucial role in the expansion of the Ottoman Empire.
More recently, Braheem Samii (1939-2022 CE) was an Iranian-American neurosurgeon and pioneer in the field of brain tumor surgery. He developed innovative techniques for treating complex brain tumors and trained numerous neurosurgeons throughout his career.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Braheem throughout history, reflecting its rich cultural and religious significance across various regions and time periods.
People
Braheem + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Braheem 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
Braheem: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Braheem?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 245 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Braheem 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 1,398,997 US residents.
Is Braheem a common name?
We classify Braheem as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 254 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Braheem most popular?
The single biggest year for Braheem was 1979, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Braheem is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Braheem in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 163 people with the name Braheem, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,340 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 Braheem 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 Braheem?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Braheem appears almost entirely male. Of the 167 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Braheem?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Braheem is Black at 90.2%. The next largest groups are White (4.3%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Braheem most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Braheem in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.2% (147 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 Braheem in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Braheem a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Braheem 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 Braheem still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Braheem 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 Braheem 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 common is the name Braheem?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.