Taariq
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "morning star" or "path."
Name Census estimates that about 280 living Americans carry the first name Taariq. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Taariq today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Taariq births was 1999 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Taariq. 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.
People living today
280
~ 1 in 1,224,123 Americans
Peak year
1999
18 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,941
Tracked since 1988
Popularity
Taariq: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Taariq from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 134 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
Taariq 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 Taariq during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Taariqs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Taariq
The given name Taariq has its origins in the Arabic language. It is derived from the Arabic word "tariq" which means "path" or "way". The name is believed to have emerged during the early centuries of Islam, around the 7th century AD, in the Arabian Peninsula.
The name Taariq holds a significant historical reference. In 711 AD, a Berber Muslim commander named Tariq ibn Ziyad led the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar from North Africa to Spain. His name, Tariq, became associated with this pivotal event in history, and the Rock of Gibraltar was named after him, known as "Jabal Tariq" or "Mount of Tariq".
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Taariq can be found in the biography of Tariq ibn Ziyad, the aforementioned commander who played a crucial role in the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. Other notable historical figures with the name Taariq include:
1. Tariq ibn Shihab (c. 670-720 AD), an Arab military leader and governor of Egypt under the Umayyad Caliphate.
2. Tariq ibn Ziyad (c. 670-720 AD), the Berber Muslim commander who led the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in 711 AD.
3. Tariq al-Bakri (c. 1010-1094 AD), an Arab geographer and scholar from Andalusia, known for his work "Al-Masalik wa'l-Mamalik" (Roads and Kingdoms).
4. Tariq ibn Abi Bakr (c. 1177-1246 AD), a Moroccan Sufi scholar and poet, known for his work "Qutb al-Madhhab al-Maliki" (The Pole of the Maliki School).
5. Tariq ibn Ziyad al-Saqlabi (c. 1201-1278 AD), an Arab historian and author of the book "Kitab al-Muqni fi 'Ilm al-Shurut" (The Sufficient Book on the Science of Conditions).
The name Taariq has been present throughout various regions of the Islamic world, including the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Europe, particularly in areas that were once under Islamic rule or influence, such as Spain and Portugal.
People
Taariq + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Taariq as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Taariq: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Taariq?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 280 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Taariq 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 1,224,123 US residents.
Is Taariq a common name?
We classify Taariq as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 285 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Taariq most popular?
The single biggest year for Taariq was 1999, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Taariq is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Taariq a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Taariq 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.
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.