Shabazz
An Arabic name meaning "a valiant fighter or warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 277 living Americans carry the first name Shabazz. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Shabazz today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shabazz births was 1992 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shabazz. 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 Shabazz with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
277
~ 1 in 1,237,380 Americans
Peak year
1992
30 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,848
Tracked since 1971
Census
Shabazz in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 267 people with the first name Shabazz, which placed it at #31,863 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
#31,863
National first-name rank
People counted
267
267 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
86.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shabazz
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shabazz is Black at 86.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.6%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). 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 Shabazz 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 Shabazz at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American86.1% · 230
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 15
- Two or more races5.2% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 3
- White0.4% · 1
Popularity
Shabazz: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shabazz from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 165 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shabazz 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 Shabazz during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shabazz' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Shabazz
The name Shabazz is derived from the Arabic word "shabbāz," which means "a person from Sabā," an ancient kingdom located in modern-day Yemen. The name can be traced back to the 8th century BCE, when the kingdom of Sabā was a major trading center in the region.
In Islamic tradition, the name Shabazz is believed to have been used by the prophet Muhammad's paternal grandfather, who was known as Shaybah ibn Hashim ibn Abd Manaf. This connection to the prophet's ancestry has given the name a significant historical and religious significance within the Islamic faith.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Shabazz can be found in the works of the 9th-century Islamic scholar, Al-Baladhuri, who documented the genealogy of the prophet Muhammad's family. In his book, "Ansab al-Ashraf" (The Genealogies of the Nobles), Al-Baladhuri mentions the name Shabazz in reference to the prophet's grandfather.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Shabazz. One of the most famous is Malcolm X (1925-1965), the influential African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist, who adopted the surname Shabazz after joining the Nation of Islam in the 1950s.
Another prominent individual with the name Shabazz was Malik Shabazz (1966-2005), an American attorney and human rights activist, who was the national chairman of the New Black Panther Party. He was known for his advocacy work and public protests against racial injustice and police brutality.
In the 19th century, Shabazz bin Dinar (1820-1893) was a prominent Sudanese Islamic scholar and leader of the Sammaniya Sufi order. He played a significant role in the religious and cultural life of Sudan during that era.
Shabazz al-Mansur (1937-1992) was an African-American Muslim leader and activist who advocated for black empowerment and self-determination. He was a prominent figure in the Nation of Islam and later founded his own organization, the Revolutionary Action Movement.
Finally, Shabazz Palaces is the stage name of Ishmael Butler, an American rapper and musician known for his experimental hip-hop and electronic music. He has released several critically acclaimed albums under this name since the late 2000s.
People
Shabazz + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shabazz 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
Shabazz: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shabazz?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 277 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shabazz 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 1,237,380 US residents.
Is Shabazz a common name?
We classify Shabazz as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 286 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shabazz most popular?
The single biggest year for Shabazz was 1992, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shabazz is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shabazz in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 267 people with the name Shabazz, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,863 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 Shabazz 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 Shabazz?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shabazz leans strongly male. 245 people counted with this name were male (91.8%), compared with 22 female bearers (8.2%). 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 Shabazz?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shabazz is Black at 86.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.6%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). 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 Shabazz most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shabazz in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.1% (230 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 Shabazz in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shabazz a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shabazz 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 Shabazz still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shabazz 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 Shabazz 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 Shabazz as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Shabazz, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.