Ismaeel
Prophet whose name represents "God hears" in Arabic.
Name Census estimates that about 435 living Americans carry the first name Ismaeel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ismaeel today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ismaeel births was 2023 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ismaeel. 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.
People living today
435
~ 1 in 787,941 Americans
Peak year
2023
34 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,934
Tracked since 1995
Popularity
Ismaeel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ismaeel 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 198 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ismaeel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ismaeel 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 Ismaeel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ismaeels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, California, Michigan recorded the most babies named Ismaeel, while New Jersey, Michigan, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ismaeel
The name Ismaeel is derived from the Arabic name Ismail, which means "God has hearkened" or "God has heard." The Arabic name Ismail itself is derived from the Hebrew name Yishmael, which means "God will hear."
The name Ismaeel has its roots in the Abrahamic religions and is believed to have originated in the Middle East during ancient times. It is mentioned in religious texts such as the Quran and the Bible, where it refers to Ishmael, the son of the prophet Abraham and his wife Hagar.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Ismaeel can be found in the Quran, which mentions Ismail (the Arabic form of the name) as the son of Abraham and Hagar. The story of Ismail and his mother's journey to the desert is significant in Islamic tradition.
In the Bible, Ishmael is described as the firstborn son of Abraham and is considered the progenitor of several Arab tribes. The name Ishmael is also mentioned in the Book of Genesis, where he is described as a skilled archer and a wild man.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Ismaeel or its variations. One of the most famous was Ismail I (1487-1524), the Shah of Persia and the founder of the Safavid dynasty. He is known for establishing Shia Islam as the official religion of Persia and for his military conquests.
Another prominent figure was Ismail Pasha (1805-1861), an Ottoman military leader and statesman who served as the Wāli (governor) of Syria and later as the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
In the field of literature, Ismail Kadare (born 1936) is a renowned Albanian novelist and poet who has been a nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature multiple times.
Ismail Merchant (1936-2005) was an Indian-born film producer and director, best known for his collaborations with writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and director James Ivory in the Merchant Ivory Productions.
Ismail Yasin (1976-2008) was a Palestinian-American terrorist who carried out the 2009 shooting attack on the Arkansas Military Recruiting Office in Little Rock, Arkansas.
People
Ismaeel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ismaeel 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
Ismaeel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ismaeel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 435 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ismaeel 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 787,941 US residents.
Is Ismaeel a common name?
We classify Ismaeel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 439 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ismaeel most popular?
The single biggest year for Ismaeel was 2023, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ismaeel is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Ismaeel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ismaeel 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.
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.