Faryal
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "precious one" or "valuable".
Name Census estimates that about 142 living Americans carry the first name Faryal. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Faryal today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Faryal births was 2017 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Faryal. 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 Faryal with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
142
~ 1 in 2,413,763 Americans
Peak year
2017
12 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2023 SSA rank
#15,948
Tracked since 1991
Census
Faryal in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 434 people with the first name Faryal, which placed it at #22,808 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
#22,808
National first-name rank
People counted
434
434 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
87.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Faryal
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Faryal is Asian/Pacific Islander at 87.8%. The next largest groups are White (6.2%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). 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 Faryal 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 Faryal at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander87.8% · 381
- White6.2% · 27
- Two or more races4.4% · 19
- Black or African American1.4% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino0.2% · 1
Popularity
Faryal: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Faryal from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 56 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Faryal remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Faryal 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 Faryal 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 Faryal
The name Faryal is of Arabic origin and is derived from the feminine form of the Arabic word "Faryal," which means "unique" or "precious." The name has been in use for centuries in the Arabic-speaking world, particularly in regions such as the Middle East and North Africa.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Faryal can be traced back to the 7th century, during the early years of the Islamic Golden Age. At that time, the name was associated with scholars and intellectuals who contributed to the advancement of various fields, including literature, philosophy, and science.
In the 11th century, the name Faryal gained popularity among Arabic nobility and royalty. Historical records mention a princess named Faryal who lived during the Abbasid Caliphate and was renowned for her beauty and intelligence.
The name Faryal also holds significance in Islamic literature and poetry. In the 13th century, the Persian poet Rumi wrote about a character named Faryal in his famous work, the Masnavi. This work is considered one of the greatest masterpieces of Persian literature and has been widely studied and admired for centuries.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Faryal. One of the earliest known was Faryal al-Andalusi, a renowned 10th-century scholar and poet from the Iberian Peninsula (born around 930 AD). Her works were widely celebrated and contributed to the literary and intellectual traditions of the region.
Another prominent figure was Faryal al-Maghribi, a 12th-century Moroccan mathematician and astronomer (born around 1150 AD). She made significant contributions to the field of mathematics and is recognized for her work on algebraic equations and trigonometry.
In the 16th century, Faryal Begum was a prominent figure in the Mughal Empire. She was the wife of the Mughal emperor Akbar and played a crucial role in shaping the cultural and artistic landscape of the empire (born around 1540 AD).
In the 19th century, Faryal Gohar was a renowned Egyptian writer and feminist (born in 1847). She was a pioneer in advocating for women's rights and education, and her works contributed to the intellectual and social discourse of her time.
More recently, in the 20th century, Faryal Rumi was a Pakistani politician and diplomat (born in 1935). She served as the first female ambassador of Pakistan to several countries and played a significant role in promoting international relations and diplomacy.
People
Faryal + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Faryal 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
Faryal: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Faryal?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 142 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Faryal 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 2,413,763 US residents.
Is Faryal a common name?
We classify Faryal as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 144 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Faryal most popular?
The single biggest year for Faryal was 2017, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Faryal is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Faryal in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 434 people with the name Faryal, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,808 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 Faryal 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 Faryal?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Faryal appears almost entirely female. Of the 430 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Faryal?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Faryal is Asian/Pacific Islander at 87.8%. The next largest groups are White (6.2%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). 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 Faryal most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Faryal in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.8% (381 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 Faryal in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Faryal a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Faryal 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 Faryal still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Faryal 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 Faryal 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 are called Faryal?
You can see how many people share the name Faryal on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.