Kassem
Masculine name of Arab origin meaning "generous" or "one who distributes".
Name Census estimates that about 245 living Americans carry the first name Kassem. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kassem today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kassem births was 1994 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kassem. 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 Kassem with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
245
~ 1 in 1,398,997 Americans
Peak year
1994
12 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,222
Tracked since 1981
Census
Kassem in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 538 people with the first name Kassem, which placed it at #19,583 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
#19,583
National first-name rank
People counted
538
538 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kassem
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kassem is White at 89.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.9%) and Black (3.5%). 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 Kassem 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 Kassem at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.0% · 479
- Two or more races3.9% · 21
- Black or African American3.5% · 19
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 3
Popularity
Kassem: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kassem from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 81 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Kassem remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kassem 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 Kassem during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kassems live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kassem
The given name Kassem has its origins in the Arabic language. It is derived from the root word "qasama," which means "to divide" or "to distribute." The name itself is a masculine form meaning "one who divides" or "distributor." Its earliest recorded usage can be traced back to the 7th century CE, during the rise of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula.
Kassem gained prominence as a personal name among Arab cultures and communities, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. It was often bestowed upon individuals who were known for their fairness, impartiality, or leadership qualities in distributing resources or resolving disputes.
In Islamic history, there are references to individuals bearing the name Kassem. One notable figure was Kassem ibn Abbas, a revered scholar and interpreter of the Quran, who lived in the 8th century CE. His teachings and interpretations of Islamic scriptures had a significant impact on the development of Islamic jurisprudence.
Throughout the centuries, the name Kassem has been carried by various notable figures across different regions and cultures. One of the earliest recorded individuals was Kassem ibn Habib, a renowned poet and scholar from Baghdad, who lived in the 9th century CE. His contributions to Arabic literature and poetry have been widely celebrated.
Another prominent figure was Kassem al-Munajjid, a 13th-century Islamic scholar and theologian from Damascus. He was renowned for his expertise in Islamic law and his influential writings on various aspects of Islamic teachings.
In more recent history, Kassem Amin was an Egyptian intellectual and writer who lived from 1865 to 1908. He was a prominent advocate for modernization and reform in Egypt and played a significant role in shaping the country's cultural and intellectual landscape during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Kassem Soleimani, an Iranian military commander, was another notable individual with this name. He served as the commander of the Quds Force, a division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and played a crucial role in Iran's foreign military operations until his assassination in 2020.
While these are just a few examples, the name Kassem has been carried by individuals from various walks of life, including scholars, poets, military leaders, and intellectuals, across different regions and time periods, reflecting its rich historical roots and cultural significance.
People
Kassem + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kassem as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kassem: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kassem?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 245 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kassem 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 1,398,997 US residents.
Is Kassem a common name?
We classify Kassem as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 249 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kassem most popular?
The single biggest year for Kassem was 1994, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kassem is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kassem in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 538 people with the name Kassem, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,583 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 Kassem 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 Kassem?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kassem appears almost entirely male. Of the 541 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Kassem?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kassem is White at 89.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.9%) and Black (3.5%). 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 Kassem most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kassem in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.0% (479 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 Kassem in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kassem a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kassem 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 Kassem still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kassem 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 Kassem 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 Kassem?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.