Hanif
An Arabic masculine name meaning "one who follows the truth."
Name Census estimates that about 756 living Americans carry the first name Hanif. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hanif today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hanif births was 2004 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hanif. 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 Hanif with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
756
~ 1 in 453,379 Americans
Peak year
2004
29 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,983
Tracked since 1971
Census
Hanif in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 908 people with the first name Hanif, which placed it at #13,344 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
#13,344
National first-name rank
People counted
908
908 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
56.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hanif
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hanif is Black at 56.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (31.6%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Hanif 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 Hanif at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American56.5% · 513
- Asian and Pacific Islander31.6% · 287
- Two or more races5.5% · 50
- White3.7% · 34
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 24
Popularity
Hanif: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hanif 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 194 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Hanif remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hanif 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 Hanif during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hanifs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Hanif, while New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 60 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hanif
The name Hanif is of Arabic origin and has been in use for centuries. It is derived from the Arabic root word "hanafa" which means "to incline towards the right path" or "to deviate from falsehood." The term "hanif" was used to describe those who followed the monotheistic tradition of Abraham, rejecting idolatry and adhering to the true faith.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Hanif can be found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. The Quran mentions the term "hanif" in reference to Abraham, who is described as a "hanif," meaning one who followed the true faith and turned away from idol worship. This association with the prophet Abraham has given the name a significant religious and spiritual connotation in the Islamic world.
The earliest known individual to bear the name Hanif was Hanif al-Bardi, a famous Arab poet who lived in the 7th century AD. He was renowned for his mastery of the Arabic language and his contributions to the literary tradition of pre-Islamic Arabia.
Another notable individual with the name Hanif was Hanif al-Kindi, an influential philosopher and mathematician who lived in the 9th century AD. He is considered one of the earliest Arab philosophers and made significant contributions to the fields of metaphysics, logic, and mathematics.
In the 12th century, Hanif al-Din al-Rumi was a prominent Sufi mystic and poet from modern-day Turkey. He was a disciple of the famous Persian poet Rumi and played a crucial role in the development and dissemination of Sufism in the region.
Moving forward in history, Hanif Kureishi is a renowned British playwright, screenwriter, and filmmaker of Pakistani descent, born in 1954. He is best known for his works such as "The Buddha of Suburbia" and "My Beautiful Laundrette," which explore themes of identity, race, and cultural assimilation.
Another notable individual with the name Hanif is Hanif Mohammad, a former Pakistani cricketer who played from 1952 to 1969. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of Pakistani cricket and was known for his exceptional defensive technique and ability to play long innings.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have borne the name Hanif throughout history, showcasing its rich cultural and religious significance, as well as its widespread use across various regions and time periods.
People
Hanif + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hanif 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
Hanif: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hanif?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 756 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hanif 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 453,379 US residents.
Is Hanif a common name?
We classify Hanif as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 775 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hanif most popular?
The single biggest year for Hanif was 2004, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hanif is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hanif in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 908 people with the name Hanif, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,344 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 Hanif 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 Hanif?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hanif leans strongly male. 901 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 13 female bearers (1.4%). 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 Hanif?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hanif is Black at 56.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (31.6%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Hanif most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Hanif in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.5% (513 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 Hanif in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hanif a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hanif 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 Hanif still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hanif 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 Hanif 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 common is the name Hanif?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.