Nasim
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "gentle breeze" or "morning wind".
Name Census estimates that about 595 living Americans carry the first name Nasim. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 80.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Nasim today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nasim births was 2000 (47 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nasim. 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 Nasim with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Nasim was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
People living today
595
~ 1 in 576,058 Americans
Peak year
2000
47 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,560
Tracked since 1980
Census
Nasim in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,027 people with the first name Nasim, which placed it at #7,506 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
#7,506
National first-name rank
People counted
2.0K
2,027 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
41.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nasim
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nasim is Asian/Pacific Islander at 41.2%. The next largest groups are White (35.1%) and Black (12.7%). 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 Nasim 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 Nasim at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander41.2% · 835
- White35.1% · 712
- Black or African American12.7% · 257
- Two or more races7.5% · 152
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 64
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Nasim
Nasim leans heavily male at 80.4% of total registrations, but 119 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Nasim as a male name
- Ranked #7,560 in 2024
- 11 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (36 births)
Nasim as a female name
- Ranked #18,440 in 2014
- 5 female births in 2014
- Peak: 2000 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nasim on both sides of the split. Of the 2,029 people counted with this name, 795 were male (39.2%) and 1,234 were female (60.8%).
Popularity
Nasim: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nasim from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 252 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nasim 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 Nasim during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nasims live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York recorded the most babies named Nasim, while California, New York, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nasim
Nasim is a Persian name derived from the Arabic word "Nasim" which means "gentle breeze" or "zephyr." The name has its roots in ancient Persia, now modern-day Iran, and can be traced back to the 7th century AD.
In classical Persian literature, Nasim is often used as a metaphor to describe the sweet fragrance of flowers or the pleasant coolness of a light wind on a warm day. This poetic association with nature's beauty and tranquility contributed to the name's popularity in the region.
The name Nasim is mentioned in several ancient Persian texts, including the renowned works of the renowned poets Ferdowsi and Hafez. In Ferdowsi's epic poem, the Shahnameh, which dates back to the 10th century AD, there is a character named Nasim who is described as a brave and virtuous warrior.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nasim can be found in the writings of the 13th-century Persian poet and philosopher, Jalal al-Din Rumi. Rumi's poetry often featured references to the name Nasim, using it as a symbol of divine love and spiritual awakening.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Nasim. One of the most famous was Nasim Banu Begum (1508-1605), a prominent female poet and courtier during the Mughal Empire in India. Another notable figure was Nasim Al-Mulk (1834-1907), a prominent Iranian statesman and diplomat who served as the Prime Minister of Persia in the late 19th century.
Other historical figures with the name Nasim include Nasim Khadem (1915-1988), an Iranian painter and artist known for her avant-garde works, and Nasim Haider (1950-2018), a Pakistani diplomat and former UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.
In more recent times, the name Nasim has been carried by individuals such as Nasim Pedrad (born 1981), an American actress and comedian known for her work on Saturday Night Live, and Nasim Aghdam (1979-2018), an Iranian-American internet personality and activist who gained notoriety for her tragic actions at YouTube's headquarters in 2018.
People
Nasim + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nasim 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
Nasim: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nasim?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 595 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nasim 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 576,058 US residents.
Is Nasim a common name?
We classify Nasim as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 606 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nasim most popular?
The single biggest year for Nasim was 2000, when 47 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nasim is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nasim in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,027 people with the name Nasim, or 0.67 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,506 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 Nasim 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 Nasim?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nasim on both sides of the split. Of the 2,029 people counted with this name, 795 were male (39.2%) and 1,234 were female (60.8%). 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 Nasim?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nasim is Asian/Pacific Islander at 41.2%. The next largest groups are White (35.1%) and Black (12.7%). 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 Nasim most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Nasim in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.2% (835 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 Nasim in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nasim a male name?
Yes, 80.4% of people registered as Nasim 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 Nasim still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nasim 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 Nasim 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 have the name Nasim?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.