Elhadj
Masculine Islamic name meaning "one who has completed the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca".
Name Census estimates that about 207 living Americans carry the first name Elhadj. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Elhadj today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elhadj births was 2020 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elhadj. 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 Elhadj with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
207
~ 1 in 1,655,818 Americans
Peak year
2020
13 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,483
Tracked since 1997
Census
Elhadj in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 303 people with the first name Elhadj, which placed it at #29,290 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
#29,290
National first-name rank
People counted
303
303 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
92.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elhadj
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elhadj is Black at 92.4%. The next largest groups are White (4.3%) and Two or More Races (2.0%). 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 Elhadj 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 Elhadj at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American92.4% · 280
- White4.3% · 13
- Two or more races2.0% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino1.0% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 1
Popularity
Elhadj: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elhadj from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 76 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Elhadj remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elhadj 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 Elhadj during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elhadjs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Elhadj
The name Elhadj is of Arabic origin and has roots in the Islamic faith. It is a title that means "one who has completed the Hajj," the pilgrimage to Mecca, which is one of the five pillars of Islam. The name is derived from the Arabic words "al-hajj," meaning "the pilgrimage."
In Islamic culture, the title Elhadj is a prestigious and honorable one, bestowed upon those who have fulfilled the religious obligation of the Hajj. It is a testament to the individual's devotion and commitment to their faith.
Historically, the Hajj pilgrimage has been a significant event in the lives of Muslims since the 7th century, when Prophet Muhammad established the rites and rituals associated with it. As such, the title Elhadj has been in use since the early days of Islam, with many notable figures bearing this name throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Elhadj can be found in the writings of renowned Islamic scholars and historians, such as Ibn Ishaq (704-767 CE) and Al-Tabari (838-923 CE), who documented the lives of early Muslims and their participation in the Hajj.
Among the famous historical figures who bore the name Elhadj, one can mention Elhadj Umar Tall (1794-1864), a Tukulor military leader and Islamic scholar who established the Toucouleur Empire in West Africa. Another notable figure is Elhadj Abdoulaye Yacine (1901-1981), a Sufi leader and founder of the Mouride Brotherhood in Senegal.
In Ottoman history, Elhadj Ahmed Pasha (1839-1897) was a prominent military commander and governor of various provinces in the Ottoman Empire. Elhadj Malik El-Shabazz (1925-1965), better known as Malcolm X, was a influential African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist.
Elhadj Moussa Traoré (1936-2020) was a Malian military officer and politician who served as the President of Mali from 1968 to 1991. These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Elhadj, a name that carries with it a rich cultural and religious significance in the Islamic tradition.
People
Elhadj + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elhadj as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Elhadj: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elhadj?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 207 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elhadj 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 1,655,818 US residents.
Is Elhadj a common name?
We classify Elhadj as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 209 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elhadj most popular?
The single biggest year for Elhadj was 2020, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elhadj is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elhadj in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 303 people with the name Elhadj, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,290 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 Elhadj 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 Elhadj?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elhadj appears almost entirely male. Of the 301 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 Elhadj?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elhadj is Black at 92.4%. The next largest groups are White (4.3%) and Two or More Races (2.0%). 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 Elhadj most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Elhadj in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.4% (280 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 Elhadj in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elhadj a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Elhadj 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 Elhadj still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elhadj 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 Elhadj 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 share the name Elhadj?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.