Sohaib
An Arabic name meaning "bright" or "shining".
Name Census estimates that about 288 living Americans carry the first name Sohaib. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Sohaib today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sohaib births was 2002 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sohaib. 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 Sohaib with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
288
~ 1 in 1,190,119 Americans
Peak year
2002
16 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,210
Tracked since 1982
Census
Sohaib in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 565 people with the first name Sohaib, which placed it at #18,938 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
#18,938
National first-name rank
People counted
565
565 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
67.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sohaib
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sohaib is Asian/Pacific Islander at 67.6%. The next largest groups are White (28.3%) and Two or More Races (2.3%). 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 Sohaib 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 Sohaib at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander67.6% · 382
- White28.3% · 160
- Two or more races2.3% · 13
- Black or African American1.2% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 2
- Hispanic or Latino0.2% · 1
Popularity
Sohaib: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sohaib from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 103 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
Sohaib 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 Sohaib during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sohaibs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Sohaib
The name Sohaib is of Arabic origin and has its roots in the ancient Semitic languages. It is derived from the Arabic word "sahib," which means "friend" or "companion." The name gained prominence during the early days of Islam, particularly in the 7th century CE.
Sohaib was the name of one of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, known as Sohaib ibn Sinan. He was a former slave who embraced Islam and migrated from Mecca to Medina with the early Muslims. Sohaib ibn Sinan is remembered for his unwavering devotion to the teachings of Islam and his sacrifices for the faith.
Another early historical figure bearing the name Sohaib was Sohaib al-Rumi, a renowned Arab poet and scholar who lived in the 8th century CE. He was known for his mastery of the Arabic language and his contributions to the literary tradition of that era.
In the 9th century CE, Sohaib ibn Anbari was a prominent Arab philologist and grammarian who wrote extensively on the Arabic language and its grammar rules.
During the Abbasid Caliphate, which ruled from 750 to 1258 CE, there was a notable figure named Sohaib al-Daylami, who served as a vizier (minister) and played a significant role in the administration of the caliphate.
In more recent times, Sohaib Idriss was a Syrian writer and journalist who lived from 1924 to 2008. He was known for his literary works and his advocacy for freedom of expression.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who bore the name Sohaib. The name has endured across centuries and cultures, carrying with it the connotations of friendship, companionship, and loyalty that are rooted in its Arabic origins.
People
Sohaib + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sohaib 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
Sohaib: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sohaib?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 288 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sohaib 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 1,190,119 US residents.
Is Sohaib a common name?
We classify Sohaib as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 292 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sohaib most popular?
The single biggest year for Sohaib was 2002, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sohaib is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sohaib in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 565 people with the name Sohaib, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,938 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 Sohaib 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 Sohaib?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sohaib appears almost entirely male. Of the 567 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Sohaib?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sohaib is Asian/Pacific Islander at 67.6%. The next largest groups are White (28.3%) and Two or More Races (2.3%). 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 Sohaib most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Sohaib in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.6% (382 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 Sohaib in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sohaib a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sohaib 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 Sohaib still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sohaib 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 Sohaib 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 common is the name Sohaib?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.