Hakim
Meaning "wise" or "judge" of Arabic origin.
Name Census estimates that about 2,230 living Americans carry the first name Hakim. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hakim today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hakim births was 1976 (90 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hakim. 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 Hakim with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.2K
~ 1 in 153,701 Americans
Peak year
1976
90 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,398
Tracked since 1962
Census
Hakim in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,249 people with the first name Hakim, which placed it at #6,949 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
#6,949
National first-name rank
People counted
2.2K
2,249 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
61.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hakim
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hakim is Black at 61.9%. The next largest groups are White (19.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.2%). 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 Hakim 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 Hakim at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American61.9% · 1,392
- White19.6% · 441
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.2% · 161
- Two or more races6.2% · 139
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 109
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 7
Popularity
Hakim: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hakim from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 503 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Hakim remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hakim 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 Hakim during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hakims live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Hakim, while Michigan, Illinois, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 88 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hakim
The name Hakim has its origins in the Arabic language. It is derived from the root word "hakama," which means "to judge" or "to govern." The name can be traced back to the 7th century CE, when it first appeared in the Arabic-speaking regions of the Middle East.
Hakim was a title given to wise men, scholars, and judges in the Islamic world. It carried a connotation of wisdom, knowledge, and authority. The name gained widespread recognition during the Golden Age of Islamic civilization, which spanned from the 8th to the 13th century CE.
One of the earliest and most notable mentions of the name Hakim can be found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. In Surah Al-Maidah (The Table Spread), verse 44 refers to the Hakamain, which translates to "two judges" or "two arbitrators."
Throughout history, several influential figures have borne the name Hakim. Here are five notable examples:
1. Hakim al-Termizi (824-892 CE): A renowned scholar of hadith (sayings and traditions of the Prophet Muhammad). He compiled the famous collection known as "Jami' al-Tirmidhi."
2. Hakim ibn Amr (7th century CE): A companion of the Prophet Muhammad and a notable military commander during the early Islamic conquests.
3. Hakim Sanai (1080-1141 CE): A Persian poet and mystic who is considered one of the greatest spiritual masters of Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam.
4. Hakim Suhrawardi (1145-1191 CE): A Persian philosopher, mystic, and founder of the Illuminationist school of Islamic philosophy.
5. Hakim Ferdowsi (940-1020 CE): The celebrated Persian poet and author of the epic masterpiece, "Shahnameh," which is considered one of the world's greatest literary works.
The name Hakim has maintained its significance and popularity across various cultures and regions influenced by the Islamic civilization, including the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Asia.
People
Hakim + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hakim 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
Hakim: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hakim?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,230 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hakim 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 153,701 US residents.
Is Hakim a common name?
We classify Hakim as "Rare". It ranks above 94.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,315 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hakim most popular?
The single biggest year for Hakim was 1976, when 90 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hakim is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hakim in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,249 people with the name Hakim, or 0.74 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,949 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 Hakim 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 Hakim?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hakim leans strongly male. 2,223 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 27 female bearers (1.2%). 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 Hakim?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hakim is Black at 61.9%. The next largest groups are White (19.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.2%). 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 Hakim most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Hakim in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.9% (1,392 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 Hakim in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hakim a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hakim 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 Hakim still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hakim 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 Hakim 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 have Hakim as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.