Saleen
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "graceful" or "elegant".
Name Census estimates that about 900 living Americans carry the first name Saleen. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Saleen today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Saleen births was 2006 (58 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Saleen. 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
900
~ 1 in 380,838 Americans
Peak year
2006
58 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,565
Tracked since 1993
Census
Saleen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 746 people with the first name Saleen, which placed it at #15,424 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
#15,424
National first-name rank
People counted
746
746 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
47.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Saleen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saleen is Hispanic at 47.7%. The next largest groups are White (35.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.7%). 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 Saleen 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 Saleen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino47.7% · 356
- White35.0% · 261
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.7% · 50
- Black or African American4.8% · 36
- Two or more races4.0% · 30
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 13
Popularity
Saleen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Saleen from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 395 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
Saleen 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 Saleen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Saleens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Saleen
The name Saleen has its origins rooted in the Arabic language and culture, emerging during the medieval period. It is derived from the Arabic word "saleem," which translates to "safe," "unharmed," or "whole." This name was often bestowed upon children with the hope that they would be protected from harm and live a complete and fulfilling life.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Saleen can be found in the writings of the renowned Arab philosopher and theologian, Al-Ghazali, who lived from 1058 to 1111 CE. In his seminal work, "The Revival of the Religious Sciences," he mentioned a scholar named Saleen ibn Abdallah, indicating the use of this name during the 11th century.
Throughout the centuries, several notable figures have borne the name Saleen. One such individual was Saleen al-Farisi, a celebrated Persian mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 9th century CE. His contributions to the fields of algebra and trigonometry were significant, and he is credited with introducing the concept of sine to the field of mathematics.
Another notable Saleen was Saleen al-Dimashqi, a Syrian scholar and writer who lived during the 13th century CE. He is best known for his extensive work on the history and geography of the Islamic world, which served as an invaluable resource for subsequent generations of scholars and travelers.
In the realm of literature, Saleen al-Andalusi was a prominent figure during the 12th century CE. Born in Andalusia, Spain, he was a renowned poet and writer whose works celebrated the beauty of the Arabic language and the rich cultural heritage of the Iberian Peninsula.
Moving forward in time, Saleen al-Misri was an Egyptian philosopher and theologian who lived during the 18th century CE. His writings on Islamic jurisprudence and theology were highly regarded and influenced the intellectual discourse of his era.
It is worth noting that while the name Saleen has its roots in the Arabic language and culture, it has transcended geographical boundaries and been adopted by various communities around the world. This exemplifies the rich tapestry of cultural exchange and the enduring influence of ancient civilizations on modern naming traditions.
People
Saleen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Saleen 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
Saleen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Saleen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 900 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Saleen 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 380,838 US residents.
Is Saleen a common name?
We classify Saleen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 911 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Saleen most popular?
The single biggest year for Saleen was 2006, when 58 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Saleen is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Saleen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 746 people with the name Saleen, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,424 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 Saleen 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 Saleen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Saleen leans strongly female. 693 people counted with this name were female (91.9%), compared with 61 male bearers (8.1%). 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 Saleen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saleen is Hispanic at 47.7%. The next largest groups are White (35.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.7%). 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 Saleen most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Saleen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.7% (356 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 Saleen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Saleen a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Saleen in the SSA data are female. 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 Saleen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Saleen 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 Saleen 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 Saleen?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.