Mahmud
An Arabic masculine name meaning "praiseworthy" or "commendable".
Name Census estimates that about 236 living Americans carry the first name Mahmud. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mahmud today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mahmud births was 2022 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mahmud. 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 Mahmud with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
236
~ 1 in 1,452,349 Americans
Peak year
2022
19 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,521
Tracked since 1980
Census
Mahmud in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 781 people with the first name Mahmud, which placed it at #14,909 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
#14,909
National first-name rank
People counted
781
781 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
46.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mahmud
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mahmud is Asian/Pacific Islander at 46.0%. The next largest groups are White (30.5%) and Black (17.2%). 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 Mahmud 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 Mahmud at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander46.0% · 359
- White30.5% · 238
- Black or African American17.2% · 134
- Two or more races5.1% · 40
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 10
Popularity
Mahmud: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mahmud from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 83 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Mahmud remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mahmud 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 Mahmud during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mahmuds live
Origin
Meaning and history of Mahmud
The name Mahmud is of Arabic origin, derived from the root word "hamida" which means "to praise" or "to laud". It is a masculine given name that has been in use since ancient times in the Arab world and other regions influenced by Islamic culture.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Mahmud dates back to the 7th century, when it was mentioned in the Quran, the sacred text of Islam. The name gained popularity after the rise of Islam and the spread of the Arabic language throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Europe.
In the 10th century, Mahmud of Ghazni, a Sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire, was one of the most notable historical figures to bear this name. He was born in 971 and reigned from 998 to 1030, conquering vast territories and patronizing various literary and cultural endeavors.
Another significant figure was Mahmud II, the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, who ruled from 1808 to 1839. He was born in 1785 and is known for his efforts to modernize and reform the Ottoman state, including the abolition of the Janissary corps.
In the realm of literature, Mahmud Sami Ramazanoğlu, a Turkish poet and writer, was born in 1885 and made significant contributions to the literary scene of his time. His works explored themes of love, nature, and national identity.
Moving to the subcontinent, Mahmud Ghaznavi, a renowned 11th-century scholar and poet, was born in Ghazni (present-day Afghanistan) in 1010. His poetic works in Persian have left a lasting impact on the literary traditions of the region.
These are just a few examples of the numerous historical figures who have borne the name Mahmud, each leaving their mark on various fields, from governance and military conquests to literature and cultural enrichment.
People
Mahmud + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mahmud as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Mahmud: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mahmud?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 236 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mahmud 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 1,452,349 US residents.
Is Mahmud a common name?
We classify Mahmud as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 239 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mahmud most popular?
The single biggest year for Mahmud was 2022, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mahmud 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 Mahmud in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 781 people with the name Mahmud, or 0.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,909 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 Mahmud 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 Mahmud?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mahmud appears almost entirely male. Of the 780 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Mahmud?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mahmud is Asian/Pacific Islander at 46.0%. The next largest groups are White (30.5%) and Black (17.2%). 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 Mahmud most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Mahmud in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.0% (359 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 Mahmud in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mahmud a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mahmud 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 Mahmud still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mahmud 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 Mahmud 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 are named Mahmud?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.