Ishmail
A masculine given name of Arabic origin meaning "God hears".
Name Census estimates that about 203 living Americans carry the first name Ishmail. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ishmail today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ishmail births was 1995 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ishmail. 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 Ishmail with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
203
~ 1 in 1,688,445 Americans
Peak year
1995
13 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2012 SSA rank
#11,334
Tracked since 1971
Census
Ishmail in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 297 people with the first name Ishmail, which placed it at #29,680 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
#29,680
National first-name rank
People counted
297
297 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
70.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ishmail
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ishmail is Black at 70.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.5%) and White (6.4%). 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 Ishmail 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 Ishmail at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American70.4% · 209
- Hispanic or Latino14.5% · 43
- White6.4% · 19
- Two or more races4.4% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Ishmail: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ishmail from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 94 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ishmail 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 Ishmail 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 Ishmail
The name Ishmail has its origins in the Arabic language and is derived from the Semitic root words 'sh-m-' and 'l', which together mean "God has hearkened". It is a variant spelling of the more common name Ishmael, which is rooted in the Arabic name Isma'il.
Ishmail is known primarily for its significance in the Islamic faith, as it is the name of the firstborn son of the prophet Abraham and his wife Hagar, as mentioned in the Quran. The biblical story of Ishmael is also present in the Old Testament of the Bible, where his name is spelled as Ishmael.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ishmail can be traced back to the 7th century CE, when it was borne by Ishmail ibn Yasir, a prominent companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was known for his bravery and participation in several significant battles during the early days of Islam.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who have carried the name Ishmail. One of the most famous was Ishmail I, the Shah of Persia from 1501 to 1524 CE, who established the Safavid dynasty and played a crucial role in the spread of Shia Islam in Iran.
Another well-known figure was Ishmail Pasha, an Ottoman statesman and Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire in the late 16th century, who is renowned for his reforms and contributions to the modernization of the Ottoman state.
In the 19th century, Ishmail Pasha (1830-1895) was the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan from 1863 to 1879. He is remembered for his ambitious modernization efforts, including the construction of the Suez Canal, as well as his role in the country's financial crisis.
The name Ishmail has also been borne by several literary figures, such as Ishmail Kadare (born 1936), an Albanian novelist and poet who is considered one of the most influential writers in the Balkans.
Ishmail Merchant (1936-2005) was an Indian-born filmmaker and producer, best known for his collaborations with director James Ivory and their acclaimed films like "A Room with a View" and "Howard's End".
People
Ishmail + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ishmail 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
Ishmail: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ishmail?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 203 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ishmail 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 1,688,445 US residents.
Is Ishmail a common name?
We classify Ishmail as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 208 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ishmail most popular?
The single biggest year for Ishmail was 1995, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ishmail is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ishmail in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 297 people with the name Ishmail, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,680 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 Ishmail 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 Ishmail?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ishmail leans strongly male. 295 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 4 female bearers (1.3%). 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 Ishmail?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ishmail is Black at 70.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.5%) and White (6.4%). 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 Ishmail most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ishmail in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.4% (209 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 Ishmail in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ishmail a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ishmail 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 Ishmail still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ishmail 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 Ishmail 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 Americans are named Ishmail?
Want to know how many people have the name Ishmail? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.