Hanifah
A feminine Arabic name meaning "true believer" or "follower of the true faith".
Name Census estimates that about 156 living Americans carry the first name Hanifah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Hanifah today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hanifah births was 1974 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hanifah. 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.
People living today
156
~ 1 in 2,197,143 Americans
Peak year
1974
9 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,427
Tracked since 1974
Popularity
Hanifah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hanifah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 54 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Hanifah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hanifah 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 Hanifah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hanifahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hanifah
The name Hanifah is an Arabic feminine name that originated in the Middle East. It is derived from the Arabic word "hanif," which means "one who follows the straight path" or "one who is inclined towards the true faith." The name is closely associated with the Islamic faith and has been in use since the early days of Islam.
The name Hanifah is mentioned in the Quran, the holy book of Islam, where it is used to describe the Prophet Abraham as a "hanif," meaning he was a monotheist and followed the true religion of worshiping one God. This association with the Prophet Abraham has given the name a deep spiritual significance in Islamic culture.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Hanifah was in the 7th century CE, when it was given to Hanifah bint Al-Ahnaf, a woman from the Banu Tamim tribe in Arabia. She was known for her intelligence and wisdom, and her name became a symbol of virtue and piety.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Hanifah. One of the most famous was Hanifah ibn Al-Mughirah, a 7th-century Islamic scholar and jurist from Kufa, Iraq. He was one of the most prominent figures in the early development of Islamic jurisprudence and is considered the founder of the Hanafi school of Islamic law.
Another prominent figure with the name Hanifah was Hanifah Al-Malikah, an 11th-century queen of the Berber Zirid dynasty in North Africa. She ruled from 1062 to 1088 CE and was known for her patronage of the arts and sciences, as well as her military prowess in defending her kingdom against invaders.
In the 12th century, Hanifah Al-Muqri was a renowned scholar of the Quran and Arabic grammar. She was born in Cordoba, Spain, and her teachings and writings on the Quran were highly influential in the Islamic world.
In the 19th century, Hanifah Al-Khalidiyah was a Sufi mystic and poet from Syria. She was known for her devotional poetry and her teachings on the spiritual path of Sufism, which gained her a large following in the region.
The name Hanifah has remained popular among Muslim communities worldwide, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, where it is seen as a symbol of faith, devotion, and adherence to the true path of Islam.
People
Hanifah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hanifah 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
Hanifah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hanifah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 156 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hanifah 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 2,197,143 US residents.
Is Hanifah a common name?
We classify Hanifah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 161 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hanifah most popular?
The single biggest year for Hanifah was 1974, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hanifah is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Hanifah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hanifah in the SSA data are female. 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.
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.