Naim
A name of Arabic origin meaning "delightful" or "pleasant".
Name Census estimates that about 2,545 living Americans carry the first name Naim. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Naim today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Naim births was 2023 (135 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Naim. 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 Naim with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.5K
~ 1 in 134,678 Americans
Peak year
2023
135 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,581
Tracked since 1973
Census
Naim in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,499 people with the first name Naim, which placed it at #6,425 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
#6,425
National first-name rank
People counted
2.5K
2,499 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
42.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Naim
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Naim is Black at 42.1%. The next largest groups are White (30.6%) and Hispanic (14.6%). 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 Naim 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 Naim at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American42.1% · 1,052
- White30.6% · 765
- Hispanic or Latino14.6% · 364
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.6% · 190
- Two or more races4.9% · 123
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 5
Popularity
Naim: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Naim from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 633 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Naim remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Naim 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 Naim during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Naims live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Naim, while Michigan, Massachusetts, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 94 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Naim
The name Naim is of Arabic origin and has its roots in the Semitic languages of the Middle East. It is derived from the Arabic word "na'im," which means "pleasant," "delightful," or "blissful." The name is believed to have been in use since ancient times in the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant region.
Naim is a name with a rich cultural and historical significance in the Islamic tradition. It is mentioned in the Quran, the holy book of Islam, as one of the names of Paradise or Heaven. The name is closely associated with the concept of spiritual contentment and joy in Islamic teachings.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Naim can be found in the writings of Ibn Ishaq, an 8th-century Arab scholar and biographer. He mentions a man named Naim ibn Mas'ud al-Ashja'i, who was a companion of the Prophet Muhammad and participated in several key battles in the early days of Islam.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Naim. One prominent figure was Naim Frashëri (1846-1900), an Albanian writer, philosopher, and one of the founders of the Albanian Renaissance movement. He played a crucial role in promoting Albanian language and culture during the Ottoman Empire's rule.
Another notable bearer of the name was Naim Bey Frashëri (1846-1924), the brother of Naim Frashëri and a renowned Albanian poet and writer. His works, such as "Qerbelaja" and "Istori e Shqipërisë," were instrumental in shaping the Albanian literary tradition.
In the 20th century, Naim Stifan Ateek (1925-2020) was a Palestinian Anglican priest and theologian known for his work in Christian-Muslim dialogue and advocacy for Palestinian human rights. He founded the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem.
Naim Kattan (1928-2021) was a renowned Iraqi-Canadian writer, filmmaker, and academic. He was a pioneer of Arabic literature in Canada and explored themes of cultural identity and displacement in his works, such as the novel "Farewell, Babylon."
Naim Attallah (born 1931) is a British businessman, publisher, and writer of Palestinian descent. He founded Quartet Books, an independent publishing house, and has authored several books, including "Gropius: An Illustrated Biography of the Creator of the Bauhaus."
People
Naim + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Naim as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Naim: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Naim?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,545 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Naim 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 134,678 US residents.
Is Naim a common name?
We classify Naim as "Rare". It ranks above 94.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,597 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Naim most popular?
The single biggest year for Naim was 2023, when 135 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Naim 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 Naim in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,499 people with the name Naim, or 0.83 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,425 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 Naim 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 Naim?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Naim leans strongly male. 2,442 people counted with this name were male (98.0%), compared with 49 female bearers (2.0%). 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 Naim?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Naim is Black at 42.1%. The next largest groups are White (30.6%) and Hispanic (14.6%). 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 Naim most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Naim in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.1% (1,052 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 Naim in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Naim a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Naim 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 Naim still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Naim 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 Naim 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 Naim?
Find out how many Americans are named Naim on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.