Qassam
An Arabic name meaning launcher of projectile weapons or artillery.
Name Census estimates that about 7 living Americans carry the first name Qassam. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Qassam today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Qassam births was 2014 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Qassam. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Qassam. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
7
~ 1 in 48,964,905 Americans
Peak year
2014
7 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2014 SSA rank
#10,456
Tracked since 2014
Popularity
Qassam: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Qassam 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 Qassam during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 7 | 0 | 7 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Qassam
The name Qassam has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic root word "qasama," which means "to divide" or "to distribute." The name's meaning is often associated with concepts of fairness, justice, and equitable distribution.
In the early Islamic era, the name Qassam gained prominence as it was borne by several notable figures in Islamic history. One of the earliest recorded instances was Qassam ibn Abbas, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad and a renowned scholar of the Quran, who lived in the 7th century CE.
Another historical figure with the name Qassam was Qassam ibn Mukhaymir, a renowned Arab poet and warrior who lived during the Umayyad Caliphate in the 7th and 8th centuries CE. His poems were widely celebrated for their eloquence and impact on Arabic literature.
In the 12th century CE, Qassam al-Nabulsi was a prominent Sufi mystic and scholar from Nablus, in present-day Palestine. He was known for his spiritual teachings and contributions to the development of Sufism in the region.
During the medieval period, the name Qassam was also associated with Islamic scholars and jurists. Qassam al-Dimashqi, a 14th-century Syrian scholar and jurist, was renowned for his expertise in Islamic jurisprudence and his contributions to the study of Sharia law.
In more recent history, Izz al-Din al-Qassam, a Syrian Muslim preacher and militant, gained prominence in the early 20th century for his role in leading an armed revolt against British and French colonial authorities in Palestine and Syria. He was born in 1882 and was killed in 1935 during a military operation against his forces.
Other notable individuals who bore the name Qassam include Qassam Soleimani, an Iranian major general who played a significant role in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and was killed in a U.S. airstrike in 2020, and Qassam Maqbool, a Kashmiri freedom fighter who was executed by Indian authorities in 1984 for his involvement in the Kashmiri independence movement.
People
Qassam + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Qassam as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Q
Other first names starting with Q with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Qassam: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Qassam?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Qassam 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 48,964,905 US residents.
Is Qassam a common name?
We classify Qassam as "Very Rare". It ranks above 23.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Qassam most popular?
The single biggest year for Qassam was 2014, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Qassam is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Qassam in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Qassam a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Qassam 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 Qassam still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Qassam 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 Qassam 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Qassam?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.