Ishamel
Masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "God has hearkened".
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Ishamel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ishamel today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ishamel births was 1922 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ishamel. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ishamel. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
1922
6 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
1995 SSA rank
#8,202
Tracked since 1922
Popularity
Ishamel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ishamel from the 1920s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 6 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ishamel 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 Ishamel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ishamel
The given name Ishamel has its origins in the ancient Hebrew language and culture. It is derived from the Hebrew name Yishma'el, which means "God hears" or "God will hear". The name can be traced back to the biblical figure Ishmael, who was the son of Abraham and his Egyptian handmaiden Hagar.
The name Ishmael appears in several religious texts, including the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Old Testament, and the Islamic Quran. In the Bible, Ishmael is the progenitor of the Ishmaelites, a Semitic tribe descended from him. In the Quran, he is considered a prophet and is revered as an important figure in Islamic tradition.
One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing the name Ishmael was Ishmael ibn Muhammed, an Arab Muslim who lived in the 8th century CE and served as the governor of several provinces in the Abbasid Caliphate. Another notable figure was Ishmael Bakhshi, a 16th-century Persian poet and writer who authored several works of literature.
In the 17th century, Ishmael Green (1638-1697) was an English Puritan minister and author who wrote several religious texts. Ishmael Reed (born 1938) is a contemporary American poet, novelist, and playwright known for his works exploring African American culture and experience.
Another famous bearer of the name was Ishmael Beah (born 1980), a Sierra Leonean author and former child soldier, who published a memoir titled "A Long Way Gone" detailing his experiences during the Sierra Leonean Civil War.
While the name Ishmael has its roots in the ancient Middle East, it has been adopted and used in various cultures and societies throughout history, reflecting its enduring significance and appeal across different religious and cultural traditions.
People
Ishamel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ishamel 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
Ishamel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ishamel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ishamel 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 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Ishamel a common name?
We classify Ishamel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 22 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ishamel most popular?
The single biggest year for Ishamel was 1922, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ishamel is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Ishamel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ishamel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ishamel 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 Ishamel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ishamel 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 Ishamel 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have the name Ishamel?
See how many people have the name Ishamel on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.