Shareef
An Arabic name meaning noble, honorable, righteous.
Name Census estimates that about 1,154 living Americans carry the first name Shareef. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Shareef today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shareef births was 1997 (53 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shareef. 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 Shareef with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 297,014 Americans
Peak year
1997
53 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,710
Tracked since 1974
Census
Shareef in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 912 people with the first name Shareef, which placed it at #13,300 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
#13,300
National first-name rank
People counted
912
912 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
61.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shareef
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shareef is Black at 61.3%. The next largest groups are White (21.8%) and Two or More Races (6.3%). 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 Shareef 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 Shareef at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American61.3% · 559
- White21.8% · 199
- Two or more races6.3% · 57
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.5% · 50
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 46
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Shareef: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shareef 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 314 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
Shareef 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 Shareef during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shareefs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Shareef, while California, Pennsylvania, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 85 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shareef
The given name Shareef originates from the Arabic language and culture, with its roots tracing back to the 7th century AD during the rise of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula. The word "Shareef" itself is derived from the Arabic term "Sharif," which means noble, distinguished, or honorable.
In the early days of Islam, the title "Sharif" was bestowed upon those who were direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima and her husband Ali ibn Abi Talib. The Prophet's family members were considered the most noble and respected individuals in the Islamic community, and the name Shareef became a symbol of this exalted status.
The name Shareef can be found in various historical texts and Islamic scriptures, including the Quran and Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad). One notable early example is Shareef Ali ibn Abi Talib, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, who played a crucial role in the early spread of Islam and is revered by both Sunni and Shia Muslims.
Throughout history, several prominent figures bore the name Shareef, including Shareef Idrissi (1782-1837), a Moroccan explorer and diplomat who traveled extensively in Africa and wrote about his journeys. Shareef Ali Khan (1822-1881) was a renowned Indian mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics.
In the realm of literature, Shareef Qamar (1924-1983) was a celebrated Urdu poet and writer from Pakistan, known for his profound and thought-provoking poetry. Shareef Husayn (1858-1932), an Egyptian scholar and writer, played a pivotal role in the Arab Renaissance (Nahda) movement, advocating for cultural and literary revitalization in the Arab world.
Another notable figure was Shareef Abdur Rahman (1891-1959), a prominent Indian Muslim leader and statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of the Dominion of Pakistan after the country's independence in 1947.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have borne the honorable name Shareef, reflecting its deep-rooted cultural and religious significance within the Arabic and Islamic traditions.
People
Shareef + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shareef 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
Shareef: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shareef?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,154 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shareef 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 297,014 US residents.
Is Shareef a common name?
We classify Shareef as "Rare". It ranks above 91% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,187 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shareef most popular?
The single biggest year for Shareef was 1997, when 53 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shareef is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shareef in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 912 people with the name Shareef, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,300 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 Shareef 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 Shareef?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shareef leans strongly male. 906 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 11 female bearers (1.2%). 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 Shareef?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shareef is Black at 61.3%. The next largest groups are White (21.8%) and Two or More Races (6.3%). 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 Shareef most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shareef in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.3% (559 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 Shareef in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shareef a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shareef 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 Shareef still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shareef 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 Shareef 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 share the name Shareef?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.