Tareq
An Arabic masculine name meaning "one who knocks at the door".
Name Census estimates that about 350 living Americans carry the first name Tareq. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Tareq today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tareq births was 1991 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tareq. 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
350
~ 1 in 979,298 Americans
Peak year
1991
14 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2022 SSA rank
#7,703
Tracked since 1980
Popularity
Tareq: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tareq 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
Tareq 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 Tareq 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 Tareq
The name Tareq has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "tariq," which means "path" or "road." The name is thought to have emerged in the Middle East during the early Islamic period, around the 7th century CE.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Tareq can be found in the historical accounts of the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, which began in 711 CE. Tareq bin Ziyad was a famous Berber general who led the initial invasion of the Visigothic kingdom, achieving a decisive victory at the Battle of Guadalete. This event marked the beginning of Islamic rule in the region, which lasted for nearly eight centuries.
Throughout Islamic history, the name Tareq has been associated with several notable figures. One such individual was Tareq ibn Shihab (1005-1077 CE), a renowned Arab scholar and poet from Persia who made significant contributions to the fields of mathematics and astronomy. Another prominent bearer of the name was Tareq ibn Ziyad al-Hadrami (1629-1690 CE), a Sufi scholar and writer from Yemen.
In more recent times, the name Tareq has been carried by several influential individuals, including Tareq Aziz (1936-2015), an Iraqi politician who served as Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister under Saddam Hussein's regime. Tareq Salhi (1962-2015) was a Moroccan-American writer and journalist known for his work on Middle Eastern affairs.
Another notable figure with the name Tareq is Tareq Ismail (1895-1935), an Egyptian actor and filmmaker who is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of Arab cinema. He starred in several influential silent films during the 1920s and 1930s, helping to establish the foundations of the Egyptian film industry.
It is worth noting that while the name Tareq has Arabic roots, it has also been adopted and used in various cultures and regions influenced by the spread of Islam, such as parts of North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, and certain regions of Asia.
People
Tareq + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tareq 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
Tareq: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tareq?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 350 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tareq 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 979,298 US residents.
Is Tareq a common name?
We classify Tareq as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 357 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tareq most popular?
The single biggest year for Tareq was 1991, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tareq is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Tareq a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tareq 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.