Syed
Of Arabic origin, it denotes a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.
Name Census estimates that about 5,763 living Americans carry the first name Syed. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Syed today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Syed births was 2000 (224 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Syed. 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 Syed with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.8K
~ 1 in 59,475 Americans
Peak year
2000
224 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,633
Tracked since 1965
Census
Syed in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 20,062 people with the first name Syed, which placed it at #1,597 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
#1,597
National first-name rank
People counted
20K
20,062 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
93.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Syed
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Syed is Asian/Pacific Islander at 93.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.5%) and White (2.2%). 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 Syed 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 Syed at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander93.9% · 18,842
- Two or more races2.5% · 497
- White2.2% · 434
- Black or African American0.6% · 129
- Hispanic or Latino0.6% · 127
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 33
Gender
Gender distribution for Syed
Out of the 5,875 babies given the name Syed since 1880, 99.8% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Syed as a male name
- Ranked #1,633 in 2024
- 104 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (224 births)
Syed as a female name
- Ranked #18,486 in 2004
- 5 female births in 2004
- Peak: 1994 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Syed appears almost entirely male. Of the 20,064 people counted with this name, 99.1% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Syed: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Syed from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,608 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Syed remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Syed 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 Syed during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Syeds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. New York, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Syed, while Tennessee, Arizona, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 302 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Syed
The given name Syed originates from the Arabic word "Sayyid" which means lord, master, or chief. It has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, dating back to the 7th century CE. The name is closely associated with the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad and is a title of honor and respect.
In the early days of Islam, the term "Sayyid" was used to refer to the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad through his grandson Husayn ibn Ali. These descendants were considered part of the noble and respected lineage of the Prophet and played a significant role in the religious and political affairs of the Muslim world.
The name Syed has been mentioned in various Islamic texts and historical records. One of the earliest references can be found in the Quran, where the term "Sayyid" is used to describe certain individuals of high status and authority. Additionally, numerous Islamic scholars and historical figures have been recorded with the name Syed or its variations.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Syed can be found in the life of Syed Ahmad Barelvi (1786-1831), an Indian Muslim scholar and revolutionary who led an uprising against the Sikh Empire in the early 19th century. Another prominent figure was Syed Ameer Ali (1849-1928), an Indian Muslim philosopher, jurist, and author who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement.
Other notable individuals with the name Syed throughout history include Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-1898), an Islamic reformer and philosopher who founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College, later known as Aligarh Muslim University; Syed Qutb (1906-1966), an Egyptian author, educator, and leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood; and Syed Rizwan Farook (1987-2015), one of the perpetrators of the San Bernardino attack in 2015.
The name Syed has also been carried by several influential figures in the fields of literature, arts, and politics, such as Syed Mujtaba Ali (1904-1974), a Bengali writer and educator; Syed Haider Raza (1922-2016), a renowned Indian painter; and Syed Hussain Alatas (1928-2007), a Malaysian academic and social scientist.
People
Syed + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Syed 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
Syed: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Syed?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,763 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Syed 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 59,475 US residents.
Is Syed a common name?
We classify Syed as "Rare". It ranks above 96.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,875 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Syed most popular?
The single biggest year for Syed was 2000, when 224 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Syed is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Syed in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 20,062 people with the name Syed, or 6.64 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,597 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 Syed 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 Syed?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Syed appears almost entirely male. Of the 20,064 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Syed?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Syed is Asian/Pacific Islander at 93.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.5%) and White (2.2%). 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 Syed most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Syed in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.9% (18,842 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 Syed in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Syed a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Syed 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 Syed still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Syed 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 Syed 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 Syed?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Syed, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.