Irfan
An Arabic name meaning "knowing" or "wise one".
Name Census estimates that about 652 living Americans carry the first name Irfan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Irfan today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Irfan births was 2023 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Irfan. 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 Irfan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
652
~ 1 in 525,697 Americans
Peak year
2023
26 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,509
Tracked since 1969
Census
Irfan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,222 people with the first name Irfan, which placed it at #7,016 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
#7,016
National first-name rank
People counted
2.2K
2,222 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
78.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Irfan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Irfan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 78.5%. The next largest groups are White (15.5%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Irfan 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 Irfan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander78.5% · 1,745
- White15.5% · 345
- Two or more races2.9% · 65
- Black or African American2.3% · 50
- Hispanic or Latino0.7% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
Popularity
Irfan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Irfan from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 172 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Irfan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Irfan 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 Irfan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Irfans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, California, Virginia recorded the most babies named Irfan, while Virginia, California, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Irfan
The name Irfan is an Arabic name derived from the word 'irfan' which means knowledge or wisdom. It has its origins in the Middle East and has been used in the Islamic world for centuries.
The name first gained prominence in the 7th century during the Islamic Golden Age, a period of remarkable intellectual and cultural achievements in the Middle East. During this time, the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom was highly valued, and the name Irfan became associated with scholars and intellectuals.
One of the earliest known references to the name Irfan can be found in the works of the renowned Persian poet and philosopher, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207-1273). In his poetry, Rumi often used the term 'irfan' to describe the mystical knowledge and spiritual enlightenment that was central to his teachings.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Irfan. One of the most famous was Irfan Habib (1931-2022), an Indian historian and scholar who made significant contributions to the study of medieval Indian history and the history of science and technology in the Indian subcontinent.
Another prominent figure was Irfan Malik (1924-2021), a Pakistani economist and diplomat who served as the Finance Minister of Pakistan from 1972 to 1973 and played a key role in the country's economic development.
In the realm of literature, Irfan Orga (1908-1970) was a Turkish-born British novelist and playwright whose works explored themes of cultural identity and the clash between Eastern and Western values.
The name Irfan has also been associated with sports. Irfan Pathan (born 1984) is a former Indian cricketer who represented the Indian national team in all three formats of the game and was known for his left-arm swing bowling.
Another notable figure was Irfan Malik (1957-2011), a Pakistani squash player who won the World Open Squash Championship in 1983 and was considered one of the greatest players of his era.
People
Irfan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Irfan 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
Irfan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Irfan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 652 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Irfan 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 525,697 US residents.
Is Irfan a common name?
We classify Irfan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 667 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Irfan most popular?
The single biggest year for Irfan was 2023, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Irfan is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Irfan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,222 people with the name Irfan, or 0.74 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,016 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 Irfan 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 Irfan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Irfan appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,221 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Irfan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Irfan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 78.5%. The next largest groups are White (15.5%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Irfan most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Irfan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.5% (1,745 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 Irfan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Irfan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Irfan 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 Irfan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Irfan 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 Irfan 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 are named Irfan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.