Iyad
An Arabic masculine name meaning "on the increase" or "augmenting".
Name Census estimates that about 230 living Americans carry the first name Iyad. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Iyad today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Iyad births was 2020 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Iyad. 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 Iyad with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
230
~ 1 in 1,490,236 Americans
Peak year
2020
16 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,972
Tracked since 1973
Census
Iyad in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 623 people with the first name Iyad, which placed it at #17,614 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
#17,614
National first-name rank
People counted
623
623 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Iyad
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Iyad is White at 87.6%. The next largest groups are Black (4.7%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Iyad 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 Iyad at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.6% · 546
- Black or African American4.7% · 29
- Two or more races4.3% · 27
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino1.1% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Iyad: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Iyad from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 103 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Iyad remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Iyad 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 Iyad 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 Iyad
The name Iyad is of Arabic origin, derived from the root word "ayd," which means "to return" or "to repeat." It is believed to have emerged during the early Islamic period, around the 7th century CE, in the Arabian Peninsula.
The name Iyad is often associated with the concept of celebration and joy, as it is commonly used to commemorate religious festivals and occasions in the Islamic tradition. It is also believed to have a connection to the Arabic word "Eid," which refers to the two major Islamic festivals, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Iyad can be found in the works of the renowned Islamic scholar and judge, Iyad ibn Musa al-Qadi al-Yahsubi (1083-1149 CE). He was a prominent figure in the Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence and authored several influential works on hadith (prophetic traditions) and fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence).
Another notable figure bearing the name Iyad was Iyad ibn Ghanm (870-949 CE), a celebrated Arab poet and literary critic from Andalusia (modern-day Spain). His poetic works were widely acclaimed during his lifetime and continue to be studied and appreciated by scholars and lovers of Arabic literature.
In the 13th century, Iyad ibn Musa al-Yahsubi (1164-1240 CE), a Moroccan scholar and jurist, gained recognition for his contributions to the field of Islamic law and theology. His work, "Al-Shifa bi Ta'rif Huquq al-Mustafa" (The Healing by the Recognition of the Apostolic Rights), a biographical work on the life of Prophet Muhammad, is considered a masterpiece of Islamic literature.
During the Ottoman Empire, Iyad Pasha (1590-1647 CE) was a prominent military leader and statesman who served as the governor of several provinces, including Damascus and Aleppo. He was known for his military campaigns against the Safavid Empire and his efforts in reforming the administration of the Ottoman territories under his governance.
More recently, Iyad Allawi (born in 1944 CE) is an Iraqi politician and former Prime Minister of Iraq. He played a significant role in the post-Saddam Hussein era and was involved in the reconstruction efforts in Iraq after the 2003 invasion.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Iyad, highlighting its rich cultural and historical significance within the Arabic and Islamic traditions.
People
Iyad + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Iyad 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
Iyad: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Iyad?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 230 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Iyad 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 1,490,236 US residents.
Is Iyad a common name?
We classify Iyad as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 233 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Iyad most popular?
The single biggest year for Iyad was 2020, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Iyad is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Iyad in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 623 people with the name Iyad, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,614 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 Iyad 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 Iyad?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Iyad appears almost entirely male. Of the 624 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Iyad?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Iyad is White at 87.6%. The next largest groups are Black (4.7%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Iyad most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Iyad in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.6% (546 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 Iyad in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Iyad a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Iyad 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 Iyad still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Iyad 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 Iyad 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 share the name Iyad?
Want to know how many Americans are named Iyad? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.