Safwan
A masculine Arabic name meaning "smooth rock" or "pebble".
Name Census estimates that about 885 living Americans carry the first name Safwan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Safwan today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Safwan births was 2022 (62 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Safwan. 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 Safwan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
885
~ 1 in 387,293 Americans
Peak year
2022
62 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,462
Tracked since 1983
Census
Safwan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 832 people with the first name Safwan, which placed it at #14,214 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
#14,214
National first-name rank
People counted
832
832 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
50.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Safwan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Safwan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 50.2%. The next largest groups are White (30.0%) and Black (14.8%). 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 Safwan 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 Safwan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander50.2% · 418
- White30.0% · 250
- Black or African American14.8% · 123
- Two or more races3.8% · 32
- Hispanic or Latino1.0% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Safwan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Safwan 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 390 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Safwan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Safwan 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 Safwan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Safwans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. New York, Minnesota, Ohio recorded the most babies named Safwan, while Virginia, Texas, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 40 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Safwan
The name Safwan has its origins in Arabic, and it can be traced back to ancient times. It is derived from the Arabic root word "safwan," which means "pure" or "chosen one." The name is believed to have been in use among the Arabs during the pre-Islamic era and was later adopted by Muslims after the advent of Islam.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Safwan can be found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. In the Quran, the name Safwan is mentioned in reference to a companion of the Prophet Muhammad, named Safwan ibn Umayya. He was a prominent figure in early Islamic history and played a significant role in various events and battles.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Safwan. One of the most famous was Safwan ibn Idris (1213-1292 CE), a renowned Arab mathematician and astronomer from Morocco. He made significant contributions to the fields of trigonometry and spherical geometry, and his works were widely studied and referenced by scholars in the Islamic world.
Another prominent figure was Safwan ibn Yahya al-Azdi (d. 976 CE), a renowned Arab poet and literary figure from modern-day Iraq. He was known for his mastery of Arabic poetry and was highly respected in the literary circles of his time. His poetry often explored themes of love, nature, and the human condition.
In the realm of Islamic scholarship, Safwan ibn Sulaiman al-Kalbi (d. 819 CE) was a prominent Arab historian and genealogist. He authored several works on the history and genealogy of Arabic tribes, which have become invaluable resources for understanding the cultural and social dynamics of the early Islamic period.
Safwan ibn Muattal al-Sulami (d. 723 CE) was an influential Arab jurist and scholar of Islamic law. He was renowned for his expertise in the field of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and his contributions to the development of Islamic legal principles and practices.
It is worth noting that while the name Safwan has been borne by many notable individuals throughout history, its usage has not been limited to any particular region or culture within the Arabic-speaking world. The name has transcended geographical boundaries and has been adopted by people of diverse backgrounds and ethnicities, reflecting the rich cultural exchange and influence that has characterized the Islamic world.
People
Safwan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Safwan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Safwan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Safwan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 885 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Safwan 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 387,293 US residents.
Is Safwan a common name?
We classify Safwan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 893 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Safwan most popular?
The single biggest year for Safwan was 2022, when 62 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Safwan is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Safwan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 832 people with the name Safwan, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,214 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 Safwan 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 Safwan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Safwan appears almost entirely male. Of the 833 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Safwan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Safwan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 50.2%. The next largest groups are White (30.0%) and Black (14.8%). 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 Safwan most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Safwan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.2% (418 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 Safwan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Safwan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Safwan 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 Safwan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Safwan 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 Safwan 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 Americans are named Safwan?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.