Islam
An Arabic name meaning "submission to the will of God".
Name Census estimates that about 776 living Americans carry the first name Islam. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Islam today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Islam births was 1999 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Islam. 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 Islam with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
776
~ 1 in 441,694 Americans
Peak year
1999
36 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,474
Tracked since 1975
Census
Islam in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,536 people with the first name Islam, which placed it at #9,170 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
#9,170
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,536 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Islam
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Islam is White at 70.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (10.9%) and Black (9.6%). 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 Islam 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 Islam at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.3% · 1,080
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.9% · 168
- Black or African American9.6% · 147
- Two or more races6.3% · 96
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 37
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Islam
Islam leans heavily male at 83.8% of total registrations, but 128 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Islam as a male name
- Ranked #3,474 in 2024
- 33 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (33 births)
Islam as a female name
- Ranked #17,836 in 2011
- 5 female births in 2011
- Peak: 1999 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Islam on both sides of the split. Of the 1,542 people counted with this name, 1,233 were male (80.0%) and 309 were female (20.0%).
Popularity
Islam: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Islam 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 248 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Islam remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Islam 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 Islam during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Islams live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, California recorded the most babies named Islam, while Illinois, California, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Islam
The name Islam has its roots in the Arabic language and is derived from the word "salaam," which means peace, submission, and obedience. The name is closely associated with the Islamic religion, which was founded in the 7th century CE in the Arabian Peninsula.
The name Islam first appeared in the holy book of Islam, the Quran, which is considered a sacred text by Muslims around the world. The Quran mentions the word "Islam" numerous times, and it is believed to be the name given to the religion by God.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Islam is found in the Sirat Ibn Hisham, a famous biography of the Prophet Muhammad written in the 8th century CE. The book mentions the name Islam as the religion revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Islam. One of the most famous was Islam Khan, a Mughal prince who lived in the 16th century CE. He was the son of the Mughal Emperor Akbar and played a significant role in the expansion of the Mughal Empire.
Another notable figure was Islam Shah, the Sultan of Bengal who ruled from 1349 to 1359 CE. He was known for his patronage of art, architecture, and literature, and his reign was marked by prosperity and cultural achievements.
In the 20th century, Islam Karimov was the first President of Uzbekistan, serving from 1991 to 2016. He was a prominent figure in the region and played a significant role in shaping Uzbekistan's post-Soviet identity.
Islam Siddiqui was a renowned Indian freedom fighter and politician who lived from 1892 to 1977. He was a member of the Indian National Congress and participated in the struggle for India's independence from British rule.
Islam Akhun was a Dagestani religious leader and scholar who lived from 1818 to 1888. He played a crucial role in the resistance against Russian colonial expansion in the Caucasus region and was known for his efforts to preserve the cultural and religious traditions of the region.
People
Islam + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Islam 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
Islam: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Islam?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 776 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Islam 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 441,694 US residents.
Is Islam a common name?
We classify Islam as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 792 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Islam most popular?
The single biggest year for Islam was 1999, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Islam 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 Islam in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,536 people with the name Islam, or 0.51 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,170 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 Islam 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 Islam?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Islam on both sides of the split. Of the 1,542 people counted with this name, 1,233 were male (80.0%) and 309 were female (20.0%). 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 Islam?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Islam is White at 70.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (10.9%) and Black (9.6%). 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 Islam most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Islam in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.3% (1,080 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 Islam in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Islam a male name?
Yes, 83.8% of people registered as Islam 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 Islam still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Islam 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 Islam 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 Islam?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.