Halim
An Arabic masculine name meaning gentle, forbearing, or mild-tempered.
Name Census estimates that about 231 living Americans carry the first name Halim. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Halim today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Halim births was 2016 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Halim. 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 Halim with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
231
~ 1 in 1,483,785 Americans
Peak year
2016
12 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,273
Tracked since 1975
Census
Halim in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 567 people with the first name Halim, which placed it at #18,871 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
#18,871
National first-name rank
People counted
567
567 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Halim
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Halim is White at 46.4%. The next largest groups are Black (22.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (20.1%). 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 Halim 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 Halim at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.4% · 263
- Black or African American22.0% · 125
- Asian and Pacific Islander20.1% · 114
- Hispanic or Latino7.1% · 40
- Two or more races4.1% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 2
Popularity
Halim: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Halim from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 61 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Halim remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Halim 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 Halim 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 Halim
The name Halim has its origins in the Arabic language and is derived from the word "hilm," which means gentleness, forbearance, or clemency. It is a name that has been used in various parts of the Middle East and the Islamic world for centuries.
One of the earliest known references to the name Halim can be found in the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, where it is mentioned as one of the attributes of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The Qur'an describes him as having a "hilm" or gentle and forbearing nature.
In the 7th century CE, there was a notable figure named Halim ibn Amr, who was a companion of the Prophet Muhammad and participated in several important battles during the early days of Islam. He is remembered for his bravery and devotion to the faith.
During the Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258 CE), there were several prominent individuals who bore the name Halim. One of them was Halim al-Muqtadir, a renowned Arabic scholar and poet who lived in the 9th century CE. He was known for his profound knowledge of literature and his contribution to the development of Arabic poetry.
In the 12th century CE, there was a famous Persian mystic and poet named Halim Yunus Emre, who is considered one of the most influential figures in the Sufi tradition. His poetry, which was written in the Turkish language, is celebrated for its spiritual depth and simplicity.
Another notable figure named Halim was Halim Pasha, an Ottoman statesman and Grand Vizier who lived in the 19th century CE. He played a crucial role in the implementation of the Tanzimat reforms, which aimed to modernize and westernize the Ottoman Empire.
Throughout history, the name Halim has been associated with individuals who embodied the traits of gentleness, patience, and wisdom – qualities that are deeply valued in many cultures and traditions.
People
Halim + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Halim 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
Halim: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Halim?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 231 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Halim 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 1,483,785 US residents.
Is Halim a common name?
We classify Halim as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 236 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Halim most popular?
The single biggest year for Halim was 2016, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Halim is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Halim in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 567 people with the name Halim, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,871 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 Halim 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 Halim?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Halim leans strongly male. 495 people counted with this name were male (88.4%), compared with 65 female bearers (11.6%). 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 Halim?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Halim is White at 46.4%. The next largest groups are Black (22.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (20.1%). 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 Halim most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Halim in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.4% (263 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 Halim in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Halim a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Halim 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 Halim still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Halim 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 Halim 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 Americans are named Halim?
See how many Americans are named Halim on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.