Pharoah
Title of the ancient Egyptian rulers regarded as gods.
Name Census estimates that about 652 living Americans carry the first name Pharoah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Pharoah today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pharoah births was 2017 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pharoah. 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.
People living today
652
~ 1 in 525,697 Americans
Peak year
2017
37 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,582
Tracked since 1936
Census
Pharoah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 510 people with the first name Pharoah, which placed it at #20,297 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
#20,297
National first-name rank
People counted
510
510 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
74.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pharoah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pharoah is Black at 74.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.4%) and Two or More Races (9.4%). 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 Pharoah 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 Pharoah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American74.1% · 378
- Hispanic or Latino11.4% · 58
- Two or more races9.4% · 48
- White4.3% · 22
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 4
Popularity
Pharoah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pharoah from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 216 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Pharoah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pharoah 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 Pharoah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pharoahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Pharoah, while Georgia, California, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Pharoah
The name Pharoah has its origins in the ancient Egyptian language and culture, dating back to the time of the pharaohs who ruled over the unified kingdoms of ancient Egypt. It is derived from the Egyptian word "per-aa", which means "great house" and was used to refer to the royal palace or residence of the king.
The name Pharoah was initially used as a title for the rulers of ancient Egypt, who were considered living gods and held absolute power over the land and its people. The earliest recorded use of the title can be found in hieroglyphic inscriptions and ancient Egyptian texts dating back to the Early Dynastic Period, around 3100-2686 BCE.
One of the most famous pharaohs in history was Tutankhamun, who ruled during the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom (c. 1332-1323 BCE). His intact tomb, discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, provided invaluable insights into ancient Egyptian culture and funerary practices. Another well-known pharaoh was Ramesses II, also known as Ramesses the Great, who reigned from 1279-1213 BCE and is renowned for his extensive building projects, including the colossal statues at Abu Simbel.
The name Pharoah also appears in religious scriptures, such as the Bible. In the Book of Exodus, the Pharaoh is portrayed as the oppressive ruler who enslaved the Israelites and refused to let them leave Egypt until God unleashed a series of plagues upon the land. The specific pharaoh's name is not mentioned, but biblical scholars have suggested that it may have been Ramesses II or one of his predecessors.
Other notable individuals with the name Pharoah include Pharoah Sanders, an American jazz saxophonist born in 1940, known for his contributions to the avant-garde jazz movement and his spiritual approach to music. In literature, there is Pharoah Anhur, a character from the Kushiel's Legacy series by Jacqueline Carey, set in a fantasy world inspired by Renaissance Europe.
While the name Pharoah is deeply rooted in ancient Egyptian history and culture, it has transcended its original context and has been adopted by individuals from various backgrounds and cultures throughout the centuries, serving as a reminder of the enduring legacy of one of the oldest civilizations in the world.
People
Pharoah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pharoah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Pharoah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pharoah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 652 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pharoah 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 525,697 US residents.
Is Pharoah a common name?
We classify Pharoah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 668 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pharoah most popular?
The single biggest year for Pharoah was 2017, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pharoah is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pharoah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 510 people with the name Pharoah, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,297 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 Pharoah 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 Pharoah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pharoah leans strongly male. 491 people counted with this name were male (98.0%), compared with 10 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 Pharoah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pharoah is Black at 74.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.4%) and Two or More Races (9.4%). 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 Pharoah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Pharoah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.1% (378 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 Pharoah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pharoah a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Pharoah 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 Pharoah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pharoah 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 Pharoah 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 common is the name Pharoah?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Pharoah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.