Hafez
A Persian name meaning "guardian" or "protector of the Quran".
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Hafez. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hafez today is around 4 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hafez births was 2023 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hafez. 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 Hafez. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
2023
6 babies that year
Average age
4
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,313
Tracked since 2020
Census
Hafez in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 207 people with the first name Hafez, which placed it at #37,585 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
#37,585
National first-name rank
People counted
207
207 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hafez
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hafez is White at 66.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (13.5%) and Black (9.7%). 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 Hafez 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 Hafez at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.7% · 138
- Asian and Pacific Islander13.5% · 28
- Black or African American9.7% · 20
- Two or more races6.3% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 8
Popularity
Hafez: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Hafez 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 Hafez during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 11 | 0 | 11 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Hafez
The name Hafez is of Arabic origin and has its roots in the language of the Quran. It is derived from the Arabic word "hafiz," which means "guardian" or "protector." The name carries a religious connotation and is often associated with individuals who have memorized the entire Quran.
One of the earliest and most famous bearers of the name Hafez was the Persian poet, Shams al-Din Muhammad Hafez-e Shirazi, who lived from 1315 to 1390. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest poets in the Persian language and is often referred to as the "Tongue of the Unseen." His collection of poems, known as the Divan-e Hafez, is considered a masterpiece of Persian literature and has been widely translated and studied.
Another notable figure in history with the name Hafez was Hafez al-Asad, the former President of Syria. He ruled the country from 1971 until his death in 2000 and played a significant role in shaping the modern Middle East. Hafez al-Asad was known for his authoritarian rule and his involvement in the Yom Kippur War against Israel.
In Islamic history, there have been several prominent scholars and religious figures with the name Hafez. One such figure was Hafez Ibn Kathir, a renowned Islamic scholar and historian who lived from 1301 to 1373. He is best known for his monumental work, Al-Bidayah wa'l-Nihayah (The Beginning and the End), which is a comprehensive history of the world from the creation until his time.
Another notable bearer of the name Hafez was Hafez Shirazi, a Persian calligrapher and painter who lived from 1880 to 1944. He was renowned for his mastery of the Nasta'liq script and his exquisite paintings, which often depicted scenes from Persian literature and mythology.
In more recent times, Hafez Musa Kadara was a Nigerian writer and playwright who lived from 1942 to 2016. He is considered one of the most influential figures in modern African literature and is best known for his novels, such as The Interpreters and The Travellers.
While the name Hafez has its roots in Arabic and Persian cultures, it has also been adopted by individuals from various backgrounds and ethnicities around the world, reflecting the diverse and rich tapestry of human culture and history.
People
Hafez + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hafez as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hafez: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hafez?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hafez 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 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Hafez a common name?
We classify Hafez as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% 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 Hafez most popular?
The single biggest year for Hafez was 2023, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hafez is about 4 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hafez in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 207 people with the name Hafez, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #37,585 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 Hafez 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 Hafez?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hafez appears almost entirely male. Of the 202 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 Hafez?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hafez is White at 66.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (13.5%) and Black (9.7%). 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 Hafez most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hafez in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.7% (138 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 Hafez in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hafez a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hafez 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 Hafez still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hafez 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 Hafez 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 Hafez?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.