Hamsa
The Arabic name representing a hand-shaped amulet, a symbol of protection.
Name Census estimates that about 167 living Americans carry the first name Hamsa. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hamsa today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hamsa births was 2005 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hamsa. 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 Hamsa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
167
~ 1 in 2,052,421 Americans
Peak year
2005
16 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2018 SSA rank
#11,273
Tracked since 2000
Census
Hamsa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 445 people with the first name Hamsa, which placed it at #22,388 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
#22,388
National first-name rank
People counted
445
445 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
42.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hamsa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hamsa is Black at 42.7%. The next largest groups are White (31.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (23.1%). 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 Hamsa 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 Hamsa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American42.7% · 190
- White31.0% · 138
- Asian and Pacific Islander23.1% · 103
- Two or more races2.5% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino0.7% · 3
Popularity
Hamsa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hamsa from the 2000s through to the 2010s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 100 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Hamsa remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hamsa 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 Hamsa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hamsas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hamsa
The name Hamsa has its origins in Arabic, derived from the word "khams" meaning five. In Arabic culture, the hamsa represents the five fingers of the hand, symbolizing protection from evil and misfortune. The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the 7th century AD during the rise of Islam in the Middle East.
Hamsa was initially a symbolic term rather than a personal name. It was associated with the "Hand of Fatima," a revered symbol in Islamic tradition representing the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. The hamsa hand is a popular talisman, often depicted as an open palm with an eye in the center, believed to ward off the "evil eye" and bring luck.
The name Hamsa gained popularity as a personal name in the Arab world, particularly in countries like Egypt, Morocco, and Algeria. One of the earliest notable figures with this name was Hamsa ibn Amr al-Qurashi, a 7th-century Arab general and companion of Prophet Muhammad.
In the 12th century, the name appears in historical records associated with Hamsa al-Isfahani, a renowned Persian poet and scholar from Isfahan, Iran. His poetic works, including the famous "Qasida Hamriya," have been influential in the Persian literary tradition.
Another prominent figure with the name Hamsa was Hamsa ibn Ali al-Kindi, an Arab mathematician and scientist who lived in the 9th century. He made significant contributions to the fields of optics, mathematics, and astronomy, and his works were widely studied in the Islamic Golden Age.
In the 20th century, one of the most famous individuals with the name Hamsa was Hamsa Boubeker, a renowned Algerian singer and actress born in 1935. She was a prominent figure in Algerian and French cinema, known for her powerful voice and performances in films such as "The Battle of Algiers" and "Parisienne."
Another notable Hamsa was Hamsa Ammari, an Algerian writer and activist born in 1949. She was a vocal advocate for women's rights and played a crucial role in the Algerian feminist movement, publishing several influential works on gender equality and social justice.
While the name Hamsa originated in Arabic culture, it has also been adopted in other regions with significant Muslim populations, such as South Asia and Southeast Asia. The name carries symbolic significance and represents the rich cultural heritage of the Arab world and Islam.
People
Hamsa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hamsa 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
Hamsa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hamsa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 167 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hamsa 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 2,052,421 US residents.
Is Hamsa a common name?
We classify Hamsa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 169 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hamsa most popular?
The single biggest year for Hamsa was 2005, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hamsa is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hamsa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 445 people with the name Hamsa, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,388 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 Hamsa 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 Hamsa?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hamsa on both sides of the split. Of the 448 people counted with this name, 195 were male (43.5%) and 253 were female (56.5%). 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 Hamsa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hamsa is Black at 42.7%. The next largest groups are White (31.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (23.1%). 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 Hamsa most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Hamsa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.7% (190 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 Hamsa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hamsa a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hamsa 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 Hamsa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hamsa 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 Hamsa 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 Hamsa?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.