Fareed
Fareed is a masculine Arabic name meaning "unique" or "precious."
Name Census estimates that about 699 living Americans carry the first name Fareed. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Fareed today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Fareed births was 2009 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Fareed. 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 Fareed with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
699
~ 1 in 490,350 Americans
Peak year
2009
36 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,281
Tracked since 1970
Census
Fareed in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,053 people with the first name Fareed, which placed it at #11,984 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
#11,984
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,053 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
38.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Fareed
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fareed is Black at 38.5%. The next largest groups are White (27.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (25.3%). 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 Fareed 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 Fareed at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American38.5% · 405
- White27.2% · 286
- Asian and Pacific Islander25.3% · 266
- Two or more races6.3% · 66
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 2
Popularity
Fareed: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Fareed 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 225 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Fareed 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 Fareed during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Fareeds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. New York, Texas, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Fareed, while Maryland, Illinois, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Fareed
The name Fareed is of Arabic origin and is derived from the root word "farid" which means "unique" or "unparalleled." It is a masculine given name that has been in use since ancient times in the Arab world.
The earliest known historical reference to the name Fareed can be found in the Quran, the central religious text of Islam. In the Quran, the word "farid" is used to describe Allah (God) as the One who is unique and incomparable. This association with divinity and uniqueness may have contributed to the popularity of the name among Muslims.
In the medieval period, the name Fareed was particularly popular among Sufi mystics and poets. One of the most famous individuals to bear this name was Baba Fareed (1173-1265 CE), a revered Sufi saint and poet from the Indian subcontinent. His teachings and poetry have had a profound influence on the Sufi tradition and are still widely studied and recited today.
Another notable bearer of the name Fareed was Al-Fareed (941-988 CE), an Arab poet and scholar from Andalusia (modern-day Spain). He was renowned for his mastery of Arabic language and literature, and his works were widely acclaimed during his lifetime and beyond.
In more recent history, Fareed Zakaria (born 1964) is a prominent Indian-American journalist, author, and political commentator. He has hosted various television programs, including "Fareed Zakaria GPS" on CNN, and has written several bestselling books on international affairs and global politics.
Fareed Ahmad (1916-1994) was a renowned Pakistani writer and journalist who made significant contributions to Urdu literature. He was awarded the prestigious Sitara-e-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) by the Government of Pakistan for his literary achievements.
Fareed Ayaz (1910-1994) was an influential Indian Muslim scholar, poet, and essayist who wrote extensively on Islamic mysticism and Urdu literature. His works have been widely praised for their depth and eloquence.
While the name Fareed has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, it has gained popularity across various regions and communities over the centuries, transcending religious and cultural boundaries.
People
Fareed + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Fareed as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Fareed: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Fareed?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 699 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Fareed 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 490,350 US residents.
Is Fareed a common name?
We classify Fareed as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 715 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Fareed most popular?
The single biggest year for Fareed was 2009, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Fareed is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Fareed in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,053 people with the name Fareed, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,984 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 Fareed 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 Fareed?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Fareed appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,043 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Fareed?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fareed is Black at 38.5%. The next largest groups are White (27.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (25.3%). 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 Fareed most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Fareed in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.5% (405 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 Fareed in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Fareed a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Fareed 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 Fareed still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Fareed 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 Fareed 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 Fareed?
Find out how many people have the name Fareed on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.