Sherief
An Arabic masculine given name meaning "noble" or "revered".
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Sherief. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Sherief today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sherief births was 1974 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sherief. 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 Sherief. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
1974
6 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
1991 SSA rank
#9,415
Tracked since 1974
Popularity
Sherief: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sherief from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 6 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sherief 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 Sherief during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sherief
The given name Sherief has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is believed to have emerged during the 7th century CE, around the time of the rise of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula.
Sherief is derived from the Arabic word "Sharif," which means noble, distinguished, or honorable. The name carries a sense of respect and reverence, often associated with individuals of high social standing or lineage.
One of the earliest historical references to the name Sherief can be found in Islamic texts and records, where it was used to refer to descendants of the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima and her husband Ali ibn Abi Talib. The title "Sherief" was bestowed upon these individuals as a mark of their noble ancestry.
Throughout history, several prominent figures have borne the name Sherief. One notable example is Sherief al-Idrissi, a renowned Arab geographer and cartographer who lived in the 12th century CE (1100-1166). His work, known as the "Nuzhat al-Mushtaq," was a pioneering book on geography and travel literature.
Another historical figure with the name Sherief was Sherief al-Din al-Tirmidhi, a Persian Islamic scholar and theologian who lived in the 9th century CE (824-892). He is renowned for his compilation of hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) known as "Jami' al-Tirmidhi," which is considered one of the six canonical collections of hadith in Sunni Islam.
In the 16th century CE, Sherief Ghazi was a prominent Ottoman military leader and statesman who played a significant role in the Ottoman Empire's expansion into North Africa. He was born around 1495 and served as the governor of various provinces, including Algiers and Tripoli.
Sherief Hussein bin Ali, born in 1854, was a notable figure in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. He was the Sharif (ruler) of Mecca and played a crucial role in the uprising, which eventually led to the establishment of the modern states of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Iraq.
In more recent times, Sherief Bassiouni, born in 1937, is an Egyptian-American legal scholar and human rights advocate. He has made significant contributions to the field of international criminal law and has served as a United Nations war crimes expert and the president of the International Human Rights Law Institute.
People
Sherief + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sherief 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
Sherief: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sherief?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sherief 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 34,275,434 US residents.
Is Sherief a common name?
We classify Sherief as "Very Rare". It ranks above 28.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sherief most popular?
The single biggest year for Sherief was 1974, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sherief is about 46 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 Sherief in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sherief a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sherief 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 Sherief still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sherief 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 Sherief 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 Sherief?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.