Imaan
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "faith" or "belief".
Name Census estimates that about 888 living Americans carry the first name Imaan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 86.6% of registrations being female. The average person named Imaan today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Imaan births was 2023 (54 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Imaan. 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 Imaan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
888
~ 1 in 385,985 Americans
Peak year
2023
54 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,657
Tracked since 1992
Census
Imaan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 691 people with the first name Imaan, which placed it at #16,359 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
#16,359
National first-name rank
People counted
691
691 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
68.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Imaan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Imaan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 68.9%. The next largest groups are Black (13.7%) and White (8.1%). 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 Imaan 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 Imaan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander68.9% · 476
- Black or African American13.7% · 95
- White8.1% · 56
- Two or more races7.2% · 50
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Imaan
Imaan leans heavily female at 86.6% of total registrations, but 120 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Imaan as a male name
- Ranked #7,404 in 2024
- 11 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (18 births)
Imaan as a female name
- Ranked #3,657 in 2024
- 42 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (42 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Imaan leans strongly female. 591 people counted with this name were female (84.4%), compared with 109 male bearers (15.6%).
Popularity
Imaan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Imaan from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 338 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Imaan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Imaan 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 Imaan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Imaans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Imaan, while New Jersey, Illinois, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 40 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Imaan
The name Imaan is of Arabic origin and has its roots in the Islamic faith. It is derived from the Arabic word "iman," which means "faith" or "belief." The name is believed to have been in use since the 7th century, when Islam emerged in the Arabian Peninsula.
Imaan is a name that carries significant religious and cultural significance in the Islamic tradition. It is often associated with the concept of having unwavering faith and trust in Allah (God) and the teachings of Islam. The name is mentioned in the Quran, the holy book of Islam, which emphasizes the importance of faith and righteous conduct.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Imaan can be found in the biographical accounts of the Prophet Muhammad's companions. Imaan bint Abi Bakr, who lived in the 7th century, was the daughter of Abu Bakr, one of the closest companions of the Prophet Muhammad and the first Caliph of the Islamic caliphate.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Imaan. One such individual was Imaan al-Shafi'i (767-820 CE), a prominent Islamic jurist and scholar who founded the Shafi'i school of Islamic jurisprudence, one of the four major Sunni schools of law.
Another prominent figure was Imaan ibn al-Walid (694-744 CE), a renowned Arab general and military leader who played a significant role in the expansion of the Islamic Caliphate during the early years of the Muslim conquest of Persia.
In the realm of literature, Imaan al-Ghazali (1058-1111 CE) was a highly influential Islamic philosopher, theologian, and mystic who made significant contributions to the development of Islamic thought and spirituality. His work, "The Revival of the Religious Sciences," is considered a masterpiece and has influenced generations of scholars and thinkers.
Imaan al-Marzouqi (1916-1949), a Moroccan poet and writer, was renowned for her poetic works that explored themes of love, nature, and the human condition. Her poetry collection, "The Scattered Pearls," is widely acclaimed and has been translated into several languages.
The name Imaan has also been borne by contemporary figures, such as Imaan Vellani, a Pakistani-Canadian actress who gained recognition for her role as Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
People
Imaan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Imaan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Imaan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Imaan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 888 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Imaan 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 385,985 US residents.
Is Imaan a common name?
We classify Imaan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 898 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Imaan most popular?
The single biggest year for Imaan was 2023, when 54 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Imaan is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Imaan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 691 people with the name Imaan, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,359 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 Imaan 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 Imaan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Imaan leans strongly female. 591 people counted with this name were female (84.4%), compared with 109 male bearers (15.6%). 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 Imaan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Imaan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 68.9%. The next largest groups are Black (13.7%) and White (8.1%). 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 Imaan most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Imaan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.9% (476 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 Imaan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Imaan a female name?
Yes, 86.6% of people registered as Imaan 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.
Is Imaan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Imaan 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 Imaan 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 the name Imaan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.